The Plavsky Effect
by ZetaCommand
Summary: An accident occurs when a Gunpla Battler is asked to test out a revolutionary simulation system at Nielsen Labs. Now she must find a way to escape the system, but not without first causing a little havoc along the way out.
1. Chapter 1: Into the Light

**I do not own Gundam Build Fighters/Try or any of the Gundam franchise.**

 **This story is inspired by Eyes in SEED authored by Nemesis Astrea and is written with his permission.**

* * *

CHAPTER 1:

Into the Light

~ Japan, Nielsen Labs ~

Nielsen Labs was the premier Gunpla institute of the east. It was in these halls where new methods of building or testing one of the world's most prolific hobby were conducted. The facility boasted several large rooms with Plavsky Battle Systems, viewing rooms above those and, of course, test laboratories. Despite being open to anyone who could pay the usage fees, not all sections were accessible to the public. It was for this reason that Aya Inose sat on one of the benches in the waiting area, passing the time by observing potential rivals for the upcoming tournament and picking up careless declarations of what their models could do.

About a month ago she received a message from her old friend, Alex, about "an exciting development" for gunpla. Other than feeling his excitement virtually leaking through message there wasn't much on details, only a request to drop by and help finalize the project. On the way to the laboratory, Aya didn't really think much about it being pre-occupied with thoughts of school and the upcoming tournament. However, after being exposed to an environment that breathed anything Gundam related she began to get curious.

Her friend was a self-declared gunpla nut but leaned to the technical side of building and fighting which included research on the still-mysterious Plavsky Particles. She, on the other hand, enjoyed the fighting aspect of the hobby more which was made possible by the discovery and utilization of Plavsky Particles. Her skills in building model kits was in the middle ranks at best. One of her reasons for this was because she was in college and enrolled in a fairly demanding course. Alex, however, chose to enter the research field on Plavsky Particles which, to her at least, was just an excuse to remain close to his passion. What could she, a gunpla fighter, contribute to the technical field of Gunpla battles?

"Hey! Aya!" a voice called, "Were you waiting long?"

The red haired teen turned around to see a young man waving at her, as if she couldn't see him from the crowd. Aya smiled as she stood, only Alex could make it sound like he had asked her out rather than requesting a favor for whatever project he was working on. She only hoped that he wouldn't take whichever girl that would catch his eye out to a place like Gundam Front in Tokyo on a date. That would be...awkward to say the least.

"A little," She answered as she stood, "So what's so exciting that you couldn't tell me over the net?"

"Ah, sorry for that, both of them I mean." Alex said, "I was fine tuning the last bits of the project I need your help on. As for what it is...I"ll tell you on the way to the lab." He gestured for her to follow him.

Aya picked up her suitcase and followed her old friend through the hallways. Once again she couldn't help but smile as she noted how Alex seemed to have a spring in his step, almost like they were kids again. Well, Gunpla tended to do that to a person but whatever he was working on must have been pretty special to get him in such an excited state.

"So, how've you been?" Alex asked as he swiped an access card on a door lock.

"Uh, a little bit busy." Aya confessed, "Between college and the upcoming tournament things are pretty hectic."

"Did I ask at a bad time?" Alex said, looking a bit guilty.

"Not really" She waived him off, "Exams finished a couple of days ago and I was going to get ready for the tournament. It looks like there are some tough contenders this year. I was actually planning on using this time to relax a bit but Gunpla Battles also help me blow off steam."

"That's true" Alex thought, "Aya did enjoy the fighting more than the building." When he had first seen her fight she had performed as expected of a newcomer, but during that time she looked...free. It was the look of someone who discovered something totally new. She seemed to enjoy the range of movement afforded by the Battle System on the Gunpla.

"Well, this project is for people like you." He said internally, "You're going to be able to enjoy Gunpla Battles like never before."

"What's the project about?" She asked, intruding into his thoughts.

"Well, you know how there are some problems in the system right?" Alex answered, his thoughts snapping back to reality, "Like how the fighter has to stand, the view etc.?"

Aya shrugged in response. After playing for a few years on the Battle System she had learned to ignore these minor inconveniences. After all when your model kit came alive did anything else really matter? Oh yes. There was.

"Did you fix the awkward announcer's voice yet?" She joked.

"Maybe we should." Alex chuckled in response, "But its not that sadly. There are a multitude of problems in the system. For example Gunpla Battles primarily require multiple players for you to even have some fun. Blowing up Mocks gets old pretty quickly."

"What are you getting at?" Aya narrowed her eyes, "How else would it be any fun when not squaring off against real opponents?"

"Most players get into Gunpla Battle because they're Gundam fans," Alex said "They want to see their favorite Mobile Suit in action and how their custom job would hold up against another from a different universe.

The system we've developed here allows players to enter their favorite Gundam universe and participate in the _entire_ show's battles and alter the outcome based on the decisions they make."

"Right...how's that different from a video game?" Aya asked, not sounding too excited about the idea.

"Because Plavsky Particles thats what!" Alex declared enthusiastically, "I don't mean just set events. Those video game sequences are like analog computers. You do path A1 and the corresponding path unlocked is B1. That type of programming is extremely restrictive since for example, it doesn't take into account _how_ you accomplished the goal or even what suit you're using. Can you imagine the reaction of characters in Wing if you suddenly appeared in a GN Drive mobile suit in a middle of a fight? You can even interact with the characters by speaking to them!"

Aya was now intrigued. A reactive system that simulated not just fighting but human reactions as well?

"We're going to change that," Alex continued to speak excitedly, "We're going to give players the option live out their fantasies in their favorite alternate universe! The replay value on this thing is endless!"

"So its a video game." Aya deadpanned, "Just like how Gunplas are basically toys."

"HERESY!" Alex roared.

A beat passed. Then both of them chuckled and then laughed. They knew each other too well to realize when another was joking.

"Here we are!" Alex declared, swiping one final lock with his key card.

As they entered a rather large laboratory filled with wires and computers and...a giant metal sphere. Aya noticed a man who appeared to be in his early forties. Like Alex, he was a foreigner and possessed the same look her friend had as someone who enjoyed their job rather than consider it mere work.

"This is professor Nielsen," Alex said introducing her to his mentor, "Professor, this is Inose Aya the person who's going to help us test out the system."

"A pleasure to meet you." The elder man said in flawless Japanese extending his arm for a handshake.

"Professor Nielsen? The boy genius?" Aya asked with mild surprise as they shook hands.

"Not a boy anymore," Professor Nielsen chuckled, "Though I am a child at heart, does that count?"

"I saw some of your past performances in the tournaments," He continued, "I must say I'm very impressed."

"I'm not," Aya said with a bit of sadness, "I could have done better in them."

"You're too hard on yourself. Alex has told me a lot about you Miss Inose," Professor Nielsen said as he led them to a table, "Thinking of your future is very important."

"And what else has Alex told you about me professor?" Aya asked while shooting a Alex an annoyed look.

Her friend had his arms up in the air but maintained a mischievous look on his face.

"That you like Gunpla Battle very much, and always find time for it despite your busy schedule." Professor Nielsen answered diplomatically, "If you don't mind me asking, do you favor one side to the hobby, such as building?"

"The fighting." Alex leaned in conspirationally.

Aya elbowed him in the ribs.

"Hmmm, as expected. The fact, is for a great many people Gunpla Battle is just a hobby, even the serious ones." Professor Nielsen nodded understandingly, "Tea or coffee?"

"Coffee, please."

The trio sat there sipping their drinks for a few minutes, until Professor Nielsen deemed it proper to break the silence.

"Are you aware that there has been a decline in the hobby miss Inose?"

"It was bound to happen," Aya shrugged, "Now that its available worldwide, people will treat it as normal due to the saturation. Its great still but people have simply gotten used to by now. There just won't be as much hype as before. The same goes for the shows, they generally adhere to a formula set almost in stone. For viewers, its not the only mecha show out there."

"Precisely, it seems that the rest of Alex's description of you wasn't exaggerated." Professor Nielsen smiled.

"And his description of me was...?"

"He described you as intelligent and pretty-"

"-talented Gunpla Battle fighter!" Alex said a little too quickly for Aya's liking, "Which is exactly what we need right now!"

"Thank you for recommending me Alex..." Aya said giving her friend a suspicious look, "But surely there were other candidates? I mean, you're in Nielsen Labs! You're surrounded by Gunpla fanatics!"

"That's true." the professor interjected, "We did have a list but you're exactly who we wanted among the pool of potential testers."

He looked down and saw that they had finished their drinks.

"Now I think its time for you to see what you'll be helping us with."

Professor Nielsen led her to a corner of the laboratory that contained the sphere she saw earlier.

"I'm sure Alex already explained to you what we're trying to accomplish here?"

"Development of a system that allows players to interact with battles and characters from the chosen Gundam universe in a realistic manner as possible." Aya summarized.

"Correct. The system is in its beta stage, all that's needed if us to see if that feature works properly." the Professor said running a hand down the sphere.

"With this system, it'll open a new avenue for Gunpla Battles!" Alex exclaimed, no longer able to contain his excitement, "Think about it! If you're not that good in battling then you can immerse yourself in your favorite universe itself!"

"So I'm really not that good then." Aya mumbled.

"Wha- No! That's not what I meant!" Alex said apologetically.

"Miss Inose, Alex has told me you enjoy the hobby despite not being the biggest Gundam fan," Professor Nielsen intervened, "What we need is a fairly objective person to test out the system and not subconsciously adhere to the associated lore. Also said person must have a degree of piloting skill to make it all the way to a portion in the story where we can collect enough data to see if the system is functioning properly."

Nils Nielsen turned to a computer and opened a folder that was named "Candidates".

"See this person here? He loves _Wing_ and he will most likely not try to alter key events. This angry looking young lady over here? She dislikes _G-Savior_ that, quite frankly, is alarming."

"We can't get any accurate data like this," Alex said, "If we don't give them any instructions they'll just do something extreme and if we do tell them to do things we'll have influenced the outcome of the experiment."

"That's where you come in." Professor Nielsen continued, "Being a moderate with the lore we only have one instruction for you: Explore the system's capabilities."

Aya placed her hand on the metal sphere, digesting what the two researchers told her. Interaction with fictional characters? Was it really possible? If what they had said was true this could open a whole new genre of entertainment. She looked at both of them.

"I'll do it."

Alex pumped his fist and immediately opened the hatch of the sphere. Stepping inside Aya noticed that its interior was similar to that of a panoramic cockpit of late Universal Century Era mobile suits. It even had a linear seat in the middle!

"Like it?" Professor Nielsen asked with a grin, "Alex salvaged the seat when it was about to be thrown out after last year's hobby fair."

"Looks like the one in the anime." Aya agreed.

"You're Gunpla gets scanned like the regular Battle System," Alex informed her, "Which we ought to do right now."

As they stepped out and returned to the table Aya popped open the case to reveal her chosen model.

"The Crossbone X2 Kai?" Alex was surprised, "Aren't you using your Queen Kshatriya?"

"Your message was really vague," Aya pouted, "The Queen is for tournaments only, sorry but I'm not gonna risk it getting damaged at this point. I figured one of my early models would do."

"Any Gunpla would actually," Professor Nielsen said as the duo examined Aya's Gunpla, "We were even prepared to lend you one if you didn't bring a model. This was an early work of yours? Nicely built for a beginner, just enough additions to make it look personal."

Despite looking like a well made straight build, one could find enough details that truly set it apart from the standard model. The heels of the model were elevated making it taller than any average High Grade Crossbone unit, though it still pretty short. The heat daggers behind the legs appeared to be fully functional as well. Its fingers, rather than the standard squarish Federation designs were sharpened making them look more like the GN Claws of the GN-X series. Aya also took into account the unused spots at the side of the shoulders, adding a single thruster to each side which slightly increased the unit's mobility. The final and most obvious change was the removal of the skull motif on the forehead which was replaced by a beam emitter of some sorts. Perfectly in line with the Crossbone theme, the unit held a lot of nasty surprises to those who thought it was merely an unassuming straight build.

"Let's have it scanned so we can start!" Alex said excitedly.

Aya took only the regular loadout of the Kai which included the Buster Launcher and the Beam Zanber. In addition, she included an extra Buster Gun so the unit could dual wield the beam pistols. Professor Nielsen took her Gunpla carefully and had it scanned by the Battle System while Alex helped her into the sphere.

"Step into the light," he said dramatically while waggling his fingers, "the light is you friend."

Aya gently pushed him out of the way as she entered the sphere and closed the hatch after. Once seated comfortably in the "Linear Seat" a start menu popped up.

"What...is this?" She asked befuddled.

"You didn't think the system would just start or drop you in the middle of something did you?"

She looked to the side and saw Alex on a screen. He winked at her.

The Hard Light controls of the Battle System activated, a scanner's light discretely passed over Aya who only gave it a passive glance as she browsed through the starting menu.

"Select your class" The annoying droid like voice of the Battle System prompted. A list of the different classes appeared along with a brief description and what players could expect from them.

"Let's see what we got here..." Aya mumbled to herself,

" _Gundam Fighters - Gundam Fighters dominate close range duels but have limited anti-army attacks..._

 _Human/Innovator - The most difficult class to start in but will eventually have access to devastating weaponry and Quantization skills as well bonus stats on any GN equipped MS..._

 _Coordinator - They have the highest initial stats and is the easiest class to start in..._

 _Newtypes - can 'see' trajectories of enemy attacks and starts out with balanced stats as well as access to additional dialogue options with other..."_

Aya selected "Newtype" as her class and the screen prompted her one last time to select her flight suit. She was surprised when she saw that the scan had managed to get a 3D picture of her face and attach it to the flight suit. Aya cycled through the suit choices until she settled for the one similar the Banshee's flight suit, only this time she changed the orange-gold tint to purple to match the X2's color scheme while keeping the midnight blue as the primary color. Lastly, she entered her name into the system.

"Please set your GP Base."

"Profile created" The system's voice said after Aya connected the GP Base.

"What universe are you going in?" Alex asked.

"The SEED universe."

"WHAAAAAAAT?!" a horrified wail escaped Alex's mouth.

"Hey, you said I was supposed to test the interactive system right?" Aya said with amusement, "What better universe to test it on other than the one filled with emo teens?"

"What about Zeta?" Alex suggested, "They were pretty emo there too."

"Do you really want my character to become a vegetable if I kill Scirocco?" Aya wrinkled her nose.

"Oh, well now that you mentioned it, I did input the series lore rather than the movie one." Alex said sheepishly.

A chuckle came from somewhere offscreen from professor Nielsen.

"Alright let's do this!"

Aya activated the controls and selected her starting "episode" of the show.

"Beginning Plavsky Particle...Generation"

"Huh, that's new." She noted as the light filled the sphere and continued until it was too painful for her to bear.

Aya screwed her eyes shut as she made a mental note of the first "flaw" she'd found in the beta test. The two researchers would have to do something about that light generation otherwise they'd be up to their necks in lawsuits for eye damage. There was also a strange ringing in her head unlike what one would experience after just waking up. After several moments passed she risked opening her eyes partially and found that the screens around her were black as if they were shut down but then they immediately activated a moment later, giving her a breathtaking view of space that only a panoramic cockpit could provide. Aya tested the controls, rotating the Crossbone X2 Kai in space. Alex and Professor Nielsen weren't exaggerating, the system really did make it look and feel real! Flashes of light in one direction caught her attention.

"That must be the battle in episode 9." Aya mused.

She maneuvered the X2 and drifted in the battle's general direction in order to get a better view. The camera zoom functions were even better than those in the Battle System, maybe Alex and the professor could sell it as system upgrade. As was in canon the GINNs were dominating the mobile armors but it seemed the fighting wasn't even done halfway yet. After locating the Strike and the Aegis and watching them fight, or what passed for it, Aya decided that it was time to intrude.

"Let's break stuff!" She yelled with exuberance as she activated the X2's thrusters.

* * *

~ Back in the Lab ~

"How's your side Alex?" Professor Nielsen asked. Minutes ago screens monitoring Aya and her progress in the simulator went black. Any attempts to get an image resulted in failure. Curiously, the data was still being recorded if the numbers were any indicator.

"Nothing." Alex replied, "What's wrong?! I just checked the systems yesterday!"

"Maybe you should check on miss Inose." Professor Nielsen suggested.

"Don't worry sir, the sphere's well ventilated and there's an access handle from the inside." Alex assured him.

Nevertheless, genuine concern for his friend prompted him to investigate. Placing his ear on the side to listen Alex shuddered in fear as he heard a familiar whoop of joy. He had been on the receiving end of such a cheer before. Back when Aya asked him to test out the first version of the Queen Kshatriya. She had disabled his F91 custom in seconds, enveloped it with the massive binders like a Venus Flytrap and slowly took it apart with the reinforced sub-arms piece by -

"Yeah, she's fine!"

* * *

~ Space ~

"We're being destroyed by our own machines?!" Minister Allster yelled in disbelief as he watched the rear of their escort vessel explode, "Is there anything more absurd?"

"Minister, please head to the life boats..." The Captain said in a resigned voice.

"Main Gun destroyed! Seal all bulkheads in that area!" another crewman yelled as the ship shuddered.

"Sir!" the radar officer yelled, "The Archangel is headed our way! It looks like they're going to reinforce us!"

The captain slammed his fist angrily at the armrest.

"They shouldn't have bothered!"

Emotionally the captain was grateful, however, his mind responded with cold, hard logic that the effort would not only be a waste, but it could also result in the prototype vessel's destruction. Even if the task force was wiped out they would at least have bought the ship some time since the ZAFT task force would have to re-arm and refuel!

"Enemy mobile suit approaching!"

A GINN broke through the curtain of Anti-Air fire and rocketed towards the bridge, its bazooka shouldered and ready to fire.

The captain felt calm as he saw the gray machine's mono-eye light up as it took aim and then there was flash of light...

* * *

~ Archangel Bridge ~

"Ready Valiants!" Ensign Natarle Badgiruel barked, "Target that GINN heading for their bridge!"

"New contact!" another one of the volunteer operations teenager whose name Natarle didn't bother to remember yelled, "Its heading towards the task force flagship!"

The stern tactical officer of the Archangel was about to order the second volley to target it when a follow up report was shouted.

"Its not registered as a ZAFT mobile suit!"

"What do you mean its not a ZAFT mobile suit?!" Lieutenant Ramius asked, delaying Natarle from giving the order.

The screen lit up showing a magnified image of the unknown mobile suit and everyone's eyes went wide.

* * *

~ Space ~

The formerly calm Alliance ship captain's eyes bulged with surprise, as did everyone else on the bridge he imagined when the GINN didn't fire. Instead it jerked with surprise as its cockpit was run through with a large bright pink energy blade that stopped mere feet from the viewing port. The blade then descended, cutting down diagonally through the already pilotless mobile suit and finally ripped free at it reached the end its victim's hip. The almost bisected mobile suit then was shoved away unceremoniously revealing the ship's savior, which frankly, was not what anyone was expecting.

Rather than the Strike, the sole remaining G-Weapon that the Alliance possessed which employed beam saber technology or even the Aegis, it was mobile suit unlike any the officers had ever seen.

The color of the body was as black as starless space while its wrists, feet and forehead were purple, and finally its V-fin antennae, thrusters and machine gun ports, and part of its chest area were a yellow-gold. The mobile suit's most distinguishing feature, however, was four long thrusters on its back arranged in an X pattern. The thrusters' structure was dotted with additional exhaust ports and fins giving the mobile suit an aggressive look. In its right hand was beam saber that emitted a massive curved beam blade while its other hand held what almost looked like a flintlock pistol. Behind, secured to its rear skirt armor was a cannon that looked like it belonged to a capital ship instead.

The crew's trance was broken when an sharp beep from one monitors sounded.

One the ZAFT pilots recovered from the shock of the mobile suit's unexpected demise and charged in vengefully. The black mobile suit turned lazily and fired its ranged weapon hitting the mobile suit in the area where the cockpit should be. The beam cored through the cockpit, vaporizing the pilot inside in an instant effectively leaving the mobile without a brain. The mobile suit continued to move forwards on its momentum, but with no one to control it the GINN mercifully strayed from a collision course with the Alliance ship. The black mobile suit then dashed off, looking for more prey...

* * *

~ X2 Kai cockpit, Aya Inose ~

Aya let out a squeal of glee. She was having the time of life! She hated to admit it but the professor and Alex were severely _underplaying_ about how fun this was! It felt so real, almost like she was actually there in Cosmic Era piloting a mobile suit, except that she was using one originating from Universal Century. Aya almost completely forgot regular Gunpla Battle when she was in the pilot's seat. After scoring her second kill, she had dashed off in order to give an outlet for her excitement.

A damaged GINN with a bazooka in one hand and a machine gun on the other tried to chase her but its efforts were futile. The Crossbone X2 Kai was a machine originally designed to operate under Jupiter's heavy gravity and with no such restrictions in normal space it was faster than anything on the field. Furthermore, the system scanner faithfully recreated not just the machine's basic characteristics but also Aya's customizations which boosted the machine's capabilities beyond the standard specifications of the unit. Despite this the damaged GINN's pilot still tried his best stop the mysterious interloper.

The GINN fired its machine gun at full automatic, no longer caring about saving ammunition while holding its bazooka in reserve. Aya recognized the tactic the pilot was using. The pilot would "lead" the enemy mobile suit by limiting its movement with an automatic or rapid fire weapon while an ally or in some cases the enemy himself would wait for opportunity to use a heavier weapon. In fact another GINN joined the fray, helping its comrade limit her movements by firing its own weapons. Both mobile suits maintained a "L" formation in order to prevent friendly fire amongst themselves. Aya, was in fact, impressed that the system utilized real world tactics against opponents. But then again so did most Gunpla Battle fighters.

"Seen that enough of that!" Aya declared as she prepared to finish the fight.

What she never saw before, however, was a thin faded red line that emerged from the damaged GINN's bazooka. At first she thought it was some kind of targeting laser but GINN bazookas didn't have that. She looked the other way and saw something similar with the other GINN's machine gun only it was line of broken dots. Time seemed to slow when Aya returned her gaze to the damaged GINN she saw a bright red beam exit the barrel. Now _that_ she had seen before, and she knew exactly what was coming next.

Just as the round left the barrel the X2 dashed "upwards" and almost immediately zipped sideways using the X2's large thrusters. Both shots went wide and the two ZAFT pilots stared dumbly at the seemingly impossible maneuver. The X2 rolled for a brief moment in space before it righted itself and, taking advantage of it's enemies' shock, accelerated towards the damaged GINN. Before the surprised ZAFT pilot could react the X2 was in front of it, between its two arms, the movement of one was hampered by its bazooka. Placing its hand on the slightly larger mobile suit like a friend the unit's "mouth" vent opened and the X2 buried the Zanber's beam blade through the GINN's head and zigzagged its way around the chest.

The X2 pulled away before the GINN exploded and headed towards the last one, taking advantage of the blinding light of the explosion as a distraction. Being a coordinator the pilot recovered faster than expected and managed to squeeze off a burst at the approaching X2. It was all for naught though as the X2 evaded its fire and cleanly bisected the mobile suit.

Aya let out another joyous cry for what appeared to be the umpteenth time that day. The mobile suit moved exactly as she wanted! And what were those red lines? Were those a visual representation of her Newtype class precognition ability? Awesome!

Deciding to reign in her glee before she exploded, Aya turned the Crossbone X2 Kai to face the _Nazca_ class ship. The Vesalius was still angling towards the Alliance vessel she'd saved earlier. Suddenly Aya remembered that Flay Allster's father was on the ship and that his death was one of the turning points of the series. Deciding to see if she could really alter the course of the series as advertised she combined the Zanber and one of the Buster Guns to form the Zanbuster and flew towards the Vaselius. Using the beam launcher would probably destroy the ship, ending the game too quickly which was what Alex and professor Nielsen didn't want in the first place.

"Time to alter the timeline!"

As she approached Aya heard a warning tone and the Aegis was shown to have broken off with its fight with the Strike. Ignoring the desperately fire beam shots, Aya activated all of the X2's thrusters and outpaced the red mobile suit.

"So much for being three times as fast!" the red head laughed, "Should have used my F99 Record Breaker instead!"

As the X2 neared the sea-green ship its anti-air batteries opened up but Aya dodged them nimbly before taking aim at one of its sides. A shot from the Zanbuster resulted in a massive explosion which caused the ship to tilt to the side, though it was still far from sunk. The warning tone sounded again and the rear cameras showed that the Aegis had caught up. Before it could fire though it turned around and looked at the Archangel.

"Ah, this must be the part where Flay threatens Lacus," Aya thought, "Heh, she must have still been blathering during the battle."

Several moments passed until finally the Aegis lowered its arms, the mechanical equivalent of a slump, before it slowly returned to the Vesalius. It passed by the X2 though Aya turned the mobile suit around to show the Aegis that she was watching in case he tried anything funny. Once the red mobile suit entered the ship and the vessel limped away from the battlefield, the X2 turned once more this time to the Strike. Which was still some distance away.

Aya used small bursts of speed to show she wasn't hostile while looking for the communication button. Finally she found it buried under a menu and hailed the Strike. During the brief period of her trip towards the Archangel she decided to adopt a role for herself to play when communicating with the characters in SEED to test out the system's responses. Static greeted her for a while before she could hear a few garbled words. It appeared that Kira was cycling through the different frequencies in order to communicate with her.

"Let's get random!"

* * *

~ Archangel Bridge ~

Murrue Ramius and the crew of the Archangel watch in disbelief as the black mobile suit not only wiped out an entire squadron of GINNs with ease but also drove off the Nazca class destroyer that had been hounding them since Heliopolis. That fact that the girl, Flay Allster (and Natarle Badgiruel) threatened Lacus Clyne to get the ZAFT forces to cease their assault was moot and academic. The black mobile suit had almost sunk the destroyer before they finished broadcasting. Ironically it was Natarle's declaration that halted any further combat and thus spared the Archangel's nemesis.

Murrue Ramius was the first to snap out of it.

"Signal the Strike!" She ordered, "Tell Kira _not_ to attack it!"

"There's some kind of interference coming from the mobile suit!" one of the operators reported, "We can't get in touch with Kira!"

"Don't say anything!" Natarle snapped as everyone turned to her in surprise.

"If that mobile suit really has some kind of ability to disrupt communications only part of the message might get through," She explained while still holding Lacus, "...the _attack_ part."

Everyone's eyes on the bridge widened at the implications of what the tactical officer said.

Murrue looked at the image of the Strike and the mysterious mobile suit. It had come to a rest close to the Strike now, slightly higher above it like it had descended from the heavens. It had an almost effeminate posture about it as it came to halt, with one leg tucked behind another while its arms were spread slightly apart. The mobile suit's posture along with its X shaped thrusters reminded Murrue of a pixie.

A demonic/vampiric pixie.

Someone on the bridge cried out as the unknown mobile suit raised its hand that held the beam weapon and took aim at the Strike.

Normally Murrue tried her best to be reasonable, kind and polite even during war but inside her head, her thoughts were her own.

"We're screwed."

* * *

~ Strike Gundam, Kira Yamato ~

Kira brooded at Athrun's outburst at how the Alliance members were monsters and the angry look his friend threw him before he left. It wasn't fair! He never wanted to fight! Hell, using Lacus as a human shield never even entered his mind! His thoughts were interrupted, however, when a warning signal beeped. He looked up and saw the unknown mobile suit approach him and he tensed. The way it brutally tore apart those GINNs! Whoever the pilot was acted like he did those things on a regular basis. It didn't even bother to use the giant cannon on its rear skirt armor.

A new icon flashed informing him that the mobile suit was hailing him. Hesitating for a brief moment Kira pressed the button. The screen opened and he was surprised to see a young face, apparently the same age as him, on the other side. The person in question was wearing a midnight blue space suit with purple lines.

"Ah, you finally found the right frequency." a cheerful voice said. It was a girl with striking blue eyes.

"Uh-, yes! This is the GAT X105 Strike." he replied with as much seriousness as he could, "Please identify yourself."

"Greetings Earthnoid!" she said in the same cheerful voice, "I come in peace."

Kira's jaw dropped. Well, as far as the helmet allowed anyway. Earthnoid? And what was with that accent?!

"W-What?"

The girl seemed to misinterpret his reaction, however, since her eyes narrowed dangerously and she raised her mobile suit's weapon, taking aim at him as she spoke once more.

"I _insist_ \- on peace!"

* * *

Author's Note:

Here's something that I just had to get out of my head. Now that its out of the way I can finally return to my first fanfic project.

As mentioned above, the story is inspired by the one written by Nemesis Astrea - "Eyes in Seed" and credit goes to him for coming up with the premise.

Some of you may be wondering why there's some interference whenever the Crossbone X2 Kai is near something. That's because Minovsky Particles have been consistently made to appear as having that effect. I did some research and found out that the lore doesn't say if its just the ships that release said particles or if the mobile suits can do so without harming the pilot so I came up with a compromise: anything near the mobile suit is going to have its electronics messed up but no where near the same level as if a UC ship was present.

As to what year this is I won't give a specific date. Let's just say Aya is a second generation Battler, and her physical description is already enough to tell you who she is.

Lastly, the description of Aya's X2 Kai is an actual mod I plan on doing to a Crossbone Kit.

Something not clear or confusing? Ask away.

Any questions submitted will either be answered in this portion or explained in the story.

Constructive reviews are welcome! Till next time.


	2. Chapter 2: The Visitor

**I do not own Gundam Build Fighters/Try or any of the Gundam franchise.**

 **This story is inspired by Eyes in SEED authored by Nemesis Astrea and is written with his permission**.

Chapter 2:

The Visitor

* * *

~ Crossbone X2 cockpit, Aya ~

"Shock at horrible, non-sensical one-liners, check." Aya thought as she delivered her 'I come in peace speech' to Kira. The show's main character looked absolutely lost at the declaration. Good job professor Nielsen! - and Alex.

A new icon lit up beside the window of the Strike Gundam indicating another message was being directed at her. Aya switched the link between her and the Strike to "sound only" and did likewise to the incoming message.

"This...s...the..th...Alliance vessel Archangel," the person on the other line spoke, "Unknown G-Weapon respond!"

Aya let a few moments pass as she refined her story a little bit more in her head. Finally, she spoke to the link.

"This is the X2A" She answered, adding 'A' to the X2 Kai's number to indicate her custom model, "I read and acknowledge Archangel."

"The Strike, the G-weapon in front of you will escort you to the hanger of the ship." The voice said, now undoubtedly belonging to the ship's Captain Murrue Ramius, "Comply at once."

"Affirmative." Aya chuckled as she cut the link. Murrue Ramius couldn't sound strict if her life depended on it.

The Strike moved ahead of her using only a fraction of its thrust capabilities, now that it perceived the threat of ZAFT to be gone. Aya had other ideas. Activating the X2's thrusters she dashed towards space. The Strike looked at the direction she flew off to in alarm but didn't bother to aim its weapon. Aya flew in graceful patters, swerving in directions she felt like taking rather than doing so out of necessity. She completed her current pattern and flew towards the Archangel, flying around it until she saw the open hanger bay. She stopped in front of it while waiting for the Strike to catch up, still surprised at the X2's sudden action.

Aya extended a hand towards the hanger bay, indicating that the Strike should precede her. The Strike warily turned its back to her and entered. Mechanical arms reached out to pluck the Aile pack off the machine and the mobile suit itself was moved inside with clamps. Aya followed suit, angling the X2's large thrusters so they wouldn't bang onto the walls of the ship. Inside she found the Strike already secured in place as well as Mu La Flaga's Moebius Zero that sported a nasty gash on its side. Now free from the constricting space of the catapult, Aya allowed the large thrusters to spread out once more. She docked across the Strike and settled herself down. Soon the red lights in the hanger flashed green and people, mostly mechanics, began emerging from doors throughout the room.

"Wow, not bad." Aya remarked as she noted the various looks on the people's faces which ranged from surprise to confusion while staring at the X2, "better log off and give the guys a report."

She disconnected her GP base and the system powered down. There was a dull red glow in the cockpit as Aya for the first time noticed how uncomfortable she felt. She felt her movements hampered somewhat and she looked down at the cause. Her eyes went wide as saucers as she realized that in place of her blouse and skirt she wore at the labs was the space suit her character at the start menu wore. She hurriedly connected the GP base again and the lights came back on. Aya patted her forearm, her thighs and knees in disbelief. The suit was real. The helmet (which definitely wasn't there before) was real. Which meant the people outside were real as well...

Bangs on the outside indicated that the people were getting impatient confirming the redhead's growing fear and so Aya did the most logical thing someone in her position would do.

She let out a very unladylike shriek.

* * *

~ Archangel, Bridge ~

"Captain! Are you sure its wise to invite that mobile suit into the ship?!" Natarle protested, "What if it turns out to be hostile?"

"If it was hostile, it would have attacked us rather than the ZAFT ship." Murrue replied, "I don't think it belongs to ZAFT either. If it did, they really would have no reason to steal all the G-weapons."

"Could it be from ORB? A secret project developed alongside the G-weapons but in secret even from us?" Natarle asked, much to the consternation of the ORB teenagers around her. However, maintaining any form secrets beyond the technical details was useless. Talk had quickly circulated on how ORB was in league with the Alliance in developing the mobile suits in Heliopolis.

"I don't know...could be." Murrue replied thoughtfully, "It's not like I had unrestricted access around the facility in the colony. I didn't even see any of the plans for the mobile suits."

"Uh, captain..." Arnold Neuman ventured, "There's some kind of commotion in the hanger."

* * *

~ Archnangel, Hanger ~

Mu whistled appreciatively as he watch the black mobile suit maneuver in the hanger. The way the thrusters on its back folded to avoid hitting the walls and positioning itself to dock spoke of excellent training and talent on the part of the pilot.

"What's wrong?" the blonde haired pilot asked as he approached Chief Murdock on the catwalk. A group of mechanics and some soldiers who survived Heliopolis had their guns trained on the entrance of the cockpit.

"The pilot's not coming out," the burly mechanic replied, "didn't even power down his systems."

"I think its a girl." A voice said behind them.

The two turned to see Kira Yamato floating towards them. He had disconnected his helmet from his blue flight suit and it now trailed behind his head, dragged along by a connector.

" _She_ spoke to you huh kid?" Mu said with a smirk, "Is she cute?"

Kira fidgeted, "Uh, Lieutenant I don't think this is the time for-"

"Yeah, yeah just trying to lighten the mood. You guys are such sticks in the mud." Mu grumbled.

In truth he had an idea as to why the pilot wasn't coming out and the fact that she was a kid, most likely a coordinator, helped fill in some of the gaps. He gestured to the soldiers to lower their guns. Some of them gave him questioning looks but deferred to the command.

Moments later his hunch was confirmed when the mobile suit's hatch hissed open. A figure in a bulky midnight-blue flight suit with purple lines and a polarized helmet floated out - and away.

"Hey!" one of the soldiers yelled angrily, raising his weapon at the figure. Luckily Mu managed to catch the weapon before it could be really be aimed at the figure.

The figure rolled and hooked its foot on the railing. With the ease of someone raised in low gravity environments it gently pulled itself down and looked at the lieutenant and the soldier who called out.

"Yes?" a muffled voice asked nonchalantly.

"Hey! Thanks for the help back there!" Mu said cheerfully taking charge of the situation before it escalated, "Welcome aboard the Archangel. And you are...?"

"Aya." She said, before turning again to leave.

"Hey wait! Where'r your going!?"

"Bathroom." The pilot had drifted past Kira without sparing him a glance before she turned to Mu once again, "Where is it?"

"I can show there." Kira offered.

"I'll come with you." Mu said giving the crew his 'Let-me-handle-this' look.

"You can remove your helmet now you know," Kira said about to state the obvious, "The hanger is pressurized."

"Yeah, no need to be shy!" Mu chimed in.

The truth was that he was curious about the pilot of the mysterious mobile suit like everyone else and he hated mysteries. That and the pilot's non-reaction to the armed soldiers troubled him in equal measure. He leaned in and spotted what appeared to the clamps which secured the helmet to the suit. Without warning Mu mischievously unsealed the helmet and pulled it off the surprised pilot's head.

Everyone stared at the pilot's face. Her very pretty face. Cool blue eyes, wide with surprise at the sudden removal of her helm, looked back at everyone. Her hair was a reddish-orange, held in place by a simple clip in a business bun. Her complexion was a bit pale, almost like she didn't spend enough time underneath the sun. The image of beauty, however, was shattered when she began to cough violently. She fell to her knees while clutching her throat. Mu glanced at the helmet he still held in the air.

After a few awkward moments of coughing the pilot, Aya, looked up in surprise.

"The air is...filtered!" she said to no one but herself. Then she focused her attention on Mu.

"How dare you open a Spacenoid's helmet in an unknown atmosphere!" she said as if she was rebuking a child.

"Uh...sorry?" Mu said giving a sheepish grin a that had saved him countless times from officers like Natarle Badgiruel. It didn't seem to work as the pilot, Aya, grabbed her helmet irritably and made for the nearest door.

Mu and Kira floated after her, a bit surprised at the reaction. What was a spacenoid? An alien that looked surprisingly human? Aya stopped at the moving belt, a device that worked much like an escalator on Earth except it was situated sideways and its purpose was to move people in a direction when in low gravity when they touched it. She held up her hand as if she was expecting to hold something. When nothing came Aya gestured impatiently like the motion detector in a faucet failed to work. Finally she looked at it and touched the red line and realized that that was all it took as the device pulled her in the direction she chose. Mu and Kira's curiosity at the new arrival continued to grow. She acted strangely, used unknown terms, and now this. She obviously knew what the device did, but it looked like she expected it to do more, rather than just place one's hand on its surface.

"This is it." Mu said.

Aya nodded absentmindedly and entered without a word.

Mu drifted to nearest com station.

"Get the captain over here, we're in section..."

* * *

~ Archangel, Aya ~

Aya huddled in a corner, in danger of hyperventilation. It had taken every ounce of discipline she had cultivated since childhood not to freak out and stare in bewilderment at everything. Though screaming in the cockpit helped to get rid of some of the shock.

What the fuck happened?! One minute (okay a few minutes) she was in Nielsen Labs and the next she was on board the Archangel! She had a space suit on! No amount of Plavsky particles could recreate an environment of this scale! And she was in low gravity! Also how did she subconsciously know how to maneuver in low gravity or that mover-thing?

And there was another problem. Shortly after she entered the bathroom under the danger of becoming a quibbling wreck on the floor she caught a glance of her face in the mirror. There was nothing wrong with it of course. Other than the fact that it was her 16-year old face. She grabbed her GP base and looked at her profile. Sixteen. In a hurry to create the rest of her profile she selected 'default' on everything else. Its not like she was going to keep the file anyway!

A million questions popped in her mind, centered around one indisputable fact: This is real. She pinched herself for good measure. Pain. Yeah, that never happened before in the Battle System.

"What am I going to do?!" Her mind despaired, "I'm stuck in a (video game) simulation of SEED! Alex! You son of a b-"

A chime sounded.

"Everything okay in there kid?" Mu La Flaga asked through the com.

"No." Aya said sounding a little more annoyed that she'd intended, her mind already improvising a solution.

"Where's the-"

"The one on the right." A female voice, who she recognized as Murrue Ramius, helpfully answered.

"Thank you!"

"Okay, just calm down. Calm down." Aya told herself. Her breathing refused to cooperate. "We've seen this before in lots of Animes. The question is...how do I get out?"

Looking back, completing the "game" was always the way out in the shows. Aya didn't even want to try experimenting to see if dying would get her out. There were too many unknowns. Did her body still exist in the real world? She had to decide on what to do soon. She couldn't hide in here forever.

Professor Nielsen's words echoed in her head. She had to get to a certain point in the show. Maybe finishing the events of the season would get her home. Yes...she could use that line of reasoning in her cover story. The Archangel was being pursued by hostile forces in a time of war carrying highly valuable data and equipment. There's no way it would give her a ride all the way to her (fictional) "home."

Finally deciding that there was no other way out, Aya resolved to see (whatever this was) to the end. At least she had some foreknowledge of what was going to happen. It was almost like reading a walkthrough. Shame that she'd acted a bit weird earlier, but she could make minute adjustments to her act and let people think they're getting to know her.

"Look out Cosmic Era," she approached the door controls, "I am going to mess you up."

* * *

~ Archangel, Corridor ~

"What's taking so long?" Mu mumbled. Sure, it looked like the kid, Aya, was having trouble finding her way around but this was stretching it. Was this his destiny? To be the oldest guy on the ship and refer to everyone as kid? Life was so unfair. In the meantime, the Captain and Natarle had arrived during the wait.

"Anything else you can tell me?" Murrue Ramius asked Mu after she answered Aya's question.

"Not much else." Mu shrugged, an act that caused Natarle to frown, "Other than she's young, about the same age as Kira here."

"So Kira, what'd you think of her?" Mu elbowed Kira who had elected to stay rather go off somewhere like he normally did. Before Kira could react, however, Natarle spoke up.

"This is not a joke Lieutenant!" Natarle finally snapped. She was alway so serious. "Do you realize the situation we're in?"

"We got saved by an unknown, lived to fight another day and less than 24 hours away from the 8th fleet." He said smugly.

Natarle grit her teeth as her face reddened.

"Now, now you two..." Murrue said amicably, "Let's not make a-"

The door hissed open and the pilot of the X2, Aya stepped out in the middle of the confrontation.

"Sorry, I didn't know this ship has only one bathroom." She quipped.

Minutes later, after sending Kira off, the de facto officers of the Archangel gathered in the captain's quarters along with its latest guest. After introducing themselves, Natarle got the ball rolling in her iconic way. But the answers they got were controversial at best.

"What is your affiliation?" She asked bluntly, "Where did you get that G-weapon?"

"Mars Vanguard." Aya said calmly.

"I-I'm sorry...Mars?" Murrue said with disbelief. A headache was coming. She could feel it.

"Yes."

"What do you mean Vanguard?" Natarle was getting impatient.

"Its the Vanguard's job to drive away space pirates." Aya said in the same calm tone.

" _Space pirates?!_ " Natarle lost it for the second time that day, "What do you take us for-"

"Actually, she means privateers." Mu offered, "It is war time." Both women looked at him and the back to Aya. Before Natarle could get any other word out Murrue asked one of the more pressing questions.

"Aya...Melanthos was it?" Murrue said, repeating the name the pilot had given her, "If you're from Mars how did you get here?"

"By ship."

"Where's the ship now?" Natarle asked with irritation.

"Exploded."

"What were you doing there in the first place?" Murrue asked gently. Maybe she could play the good-cop angle. Natarle definitely wasn't _playing_ the bad-cop one.

"Escort mission. Resource delivery to Heliopolis." Aya said, a bit more forthcoming with Murrue, "May I eat? I've been drifting in space for a while now."

"I'll get someone to show you to the mess hall." Mu said.

"Captain we're not done yet!" Natarle protested.

"Relax," Mu whispered in Natarle's ear, "If she causes trouble we'll know where she is."

Natarle agreed begrudgingly as Mu called a crewman to guide Aya to the dining area.

"And get her something to wear." He added, "She can't walk around in her flight suit."

Once the mysterious girl vanished the three began their discussion based on what they learned.

"So, what do you think?" Murrue asked no one in particular.

"She's obviously making it all up!" Natarle all but yelled, "Mars Vanguard!?"

"Uh, fun fact guys..." Mu said rubbing the back of his neck, "There are couple of independent colonies around Mars and that's where ZAFT got some of the materials for their N-Jammers."

"So she and the Martian colonies are in league with ZAFT?" Natarle said in disbelief.

"Not necessarily, she did save us from ZAFT." Mu answered, "Also while they're 'neutral' we all know how ORB's Morgenroete helped develop the G-Weapons despite their so-called neutrality."

"Also, this was a while back but I heard from my old man that they had secret dealings with the Alliance too." the blonde added.

The revealed information prevented any more questions from Natarle on the Martian question. The La Flaga family was a fairly well known aristocratic line, though Mu never once used his name to exert any influence unlike some officers. This meant that they were privy to information normally reserved for the higher ups in the military echelon. Murrue kept quiet, something was bugging her at the back of her mind.

"What about that mobile suit?" Natarle finally spoke up once more, seemingly the most eager to bust Aya's explanations, "Are they building their own over there too?"

"Well its not like whoever fielded the first tank held a monopoly on the technology for very long." Mu half mumbled, "Hell, we were building mobile suits that, spec-wise, are superior to ZAFT's GINN in every aspect except maybe a crappy OS. Other than being really fast, I don't see any difference between her mobile suit and the G-Weapons. Except being short."

"Captain? You've been quiet for a while now."

"Hmm? Oh." Murrue pulled herself from her thoughts, "I was just trying to remember where this unmarked shipment for the G-Weapons was coming from. It could explain why the 'Martians' were heading to Heliopolis. It was part of the project's finalization but the contents were classified. It was procured by my superiors in Heliopolis towards the end of the project. It couldn't have been from ORB. They have nothing that the Alliance doesn't."

"And the records conveniently went up with Heliopolis." Mu concluded.

All three of them sighed.

"Next question: What do we do with her?" It was Mu this time.

"Lock her up and take her mobile suit in for analysis."

Murrue looked in horror at Natarle.

"Uh, I was thinking of just watching her and see where things go from there." Mu offered.

"Agreed." Murrue said quickly, "She's not an Alliance citizen, came to our aid and broke no laws."

Natarle slumped in her seat while Mu gave a thumbs up.

"Last question: Is she a coordinator?"

"Hm? Why is that relevant?"

"Let me make this clear," Natarle began, "I have nothing against coordinators personally but we are at war with an entity whose population is made up of them. This is very relevant."

"What do you think Lieutenant?" The black haired officer said, speaking to Mu directly for the first time in the meeting.

"Well..." Mu crossed his arms and looked serious, "I saw some of her moves when heading back to the ship and I've never seen piloting skills like that before. Not even on those High Maneuver GINNs at Endymion. So there's a good chance she is a coordinator, I mean look how young she is!"

The two women said nothing at that. Mu La Flaga was the only Alliance pilot to survive the Battle of Endymion. During the battle the two factions threw their very best at the time against each other. For ZAFT that meant their High Maneuver GINNs which utilized ship engines for main thrusters while the Alliance fielded the Moebius Zero which utilized remote weaponry few, including coordinators, could control well enough. How the battle ended was sketchy but one thing was consistent in the reports: there was only one Alliance survivor.

"We'll keep her under surveillance then." Murrue said, "As of this moment we are merely exercising emergency powers. We'll let Admiral Halberton decide once we link up with the 8th fleet. This meeting is adjour-"

"I'll get the engineers to examine that machine." Natarle said, stealing a win from the meeting as they parted ways.

* * *

~Archangel, Dining Area ~

Kira sat alone on a table staring at his food. He had purposely kept his distance before from his friends since Flay seemed agitated around him. At the moment she was with her father, and thus Kira could have sat with his friends who didn't hold the fact that he was a coordinator against him this time but the recent events weighed heavily on him.

Up until this point everything he had done was to survive and protect his friends. In the process though, he fought in battles, took a life and almost broke his promise to Flay had not the black mobile suit. Now the teen spent his time worrying about his future. Was he going to be drafted by the Alliance now that he was exposed to a military secret? Will ORB revoke his citizenship since he fought for another nation in a war? How was he going to explain this to his mother?

The only consolation he had at this point was that he wouldn't have to fight Athrun anytime soon. The Archangel was going to link up with the 8th fleet soon and nothing short of the entire ZAFT navy could get past that much firepower. Under that screen, the ship would descend to Alaska to deliver the last remaining G.U.N.D.A.M. as he'd like to call it to Alliance. Still, even that consolation came at a price. When the PLANTS representative, Lacus Clyne, was taken hostage Athrun looked at him like it was his idea just because he was protecting a ship his friends were on. Kira sighed.

The door hissed open and his friends immediately began to whisper among themselves. Looking up to see what they were talking about Kira was surprised to see the pilot of the black G-weapon. No longer wearing her flight suit, she now wore an Alliance uniform like that Mirallia's while her long reddish-orange hair was let down. She ignored his classmates as she walked up to the counter. Perhaps discovering that the food was all the same, she picked up a tray and settled for a table away from the others.

"Psst! Hey! Kira!" Sai whispered, "Why don't you go say hi?" His friend winked at him through his glasses.

"Sai!" Kira whispered back as he took the seat next to his friend, "This isn't really the time for that!"

"Yeah, Kira!" Tolle added, "This could be your chance!"

Mirallia sighed out loud. "Sorry Kira, that's just their boneheaded way of trying to cheer you up. You looked like you were really down over there."

"Thanks guys, really." Kira mumbled, "But I just needed some time alone."

"Yeah, well we're here for you buddy." Sai said a bit more seriously, "We know better than most how hard you work to protect us."

"What's she like?" Tolle asked, "You met her as she exited her mobile suit right?"

"I really don't know." Kira admitted, "She didn't say much during the time I was around."

The teens continued to gossip for a few more minutes until the clinking of utensils signaled that the red-headed pilot finished eating. She deposited her tray at the counter and looked like she was going to walk past them again. Except she didn't.

"You were at the hanger." She said to Kira.

"Yeah! He was!" Tolle answered for Kira who looked panicked, "He's the pilot of the Strike!"

"You know, the white mobile suit!" Sai added when the information failed to elicit a response from the pilot.

"I see." She said simply, "You weren't serious during the battle."

It wasn't a question. It was a statement, and it was correct.

Kira looked away lest his expression give away his conflicting emotions. Sai's earnest declaration of gratitude a while ago now seemed to be more like a barb rather than a salve. What was he supposed to do?! Kill Athrun to save his friends or let ZAFT sink the Archangel in order to avoid fighting Athrun? She wasn't the one fighting against an old friend!

The door opened ending the awkward moment as Vice Foreign Minister George Allster and his daughter, Flay, stepped in. The teens, having seen Flay's father before, rose to greet him.

"How are you and your friends holding up Sai?" The elder man asked.

"Well enough sir, thanks to Kira here and...uh" Sai trailed off suddenly realizing he didn't know the name of the other pilot.

"I see, thank you young man," George Allster said, though a bit coldly, "And miss...Aya Melanthos was it? I heard of you from the captain on the way here. You're a long way from Mars."

Everyone's eyes widened in surprise at the revelation.

"Yes." Aya said in a creepy, neutral voice.

"Both of you are coordinators are you not?" Minister Allster asked, "I heard most of the Martian colonists are."

"That is...inaccurate." Aya replied.

"Oh yes! Forgive me, I heard that _all_ Martians coordinate their genes to serve different roles in society. What would your role be?"

Kira's friends and even Flay fidgeted. It seemed that the Vice Foreign minister was trying to get a rise out of Aya.

Unperturbed, Aya made for the door but not before answering the man's question. She turned and gave the entire group an enigmatic smile.

"Over there they call us: Newtypes"

* * *

Author's Note:

Second chapter is out! The reviews and follows surprised me a lot since this is just my second outing.

Regarding the Mars backstory, I did a bit of research and the stuff Mu mumbles here are true in the SEED universe which is why some of the characters didn't react too much when they heard about it. It was a lot better than saying she actually came from Jupiter. She also seems to know a lot of things subconsciously. It'll be explained later on, but I think the readers will be able to figure out why.

Next issue is the disparity of Aya's behavior in chapter 1 and here. I figured the fact that she's stuck in an alternate universe (with all that implies) and that she's just acting should justify the behavior she exhibits. Oh, yeah and the near panic attack. While the segment is admittedly messy I was trying to convey the shock she was going through after discovering she was trapped in the SEED universe.

Lastly, a couple of people have expressed concern (or surprise?) at my choice of using the X2 Kai. I know that the core fighter has been removed but then again you don't really need to escape in Gunpla Battles right? As with my other work, I'll try to keep things plausible (in universe anyway) such as the fact that the X2 Kai has paper thin armor compared to early Universal Century machines.

Till next time!


	3. Chapter 3: The Princess and the Pixie

**I do not own Gundam Build Fighters/Try or any of the Gundam franchise.**

 **This story is inspired by Eyes in SEED authored by Nemesis Astrea and is written with his permission.**

CHAPTER 3

The Princess and the Pixie

* * *

~ Archangel ~

Murrue Ramius sighed. George Allster, the Vice Foreign Minister, had insisted on staying on the Archangel to better watch over his daughter but at the same time was making unreasonable demands of them. Such as his request to make for the 8th Fleet at full speed which showed his ignorance towards naval operations in space; there was a reason warships moved between "Cruising Speed" to "Combat Speed"! Hauling every ounce of self-control she could muster, Murrue gave a vague response to the "request" and ordered the crew to maintain their present speed once she was sure he was gone and none of the Heliopolis teens were around. In an extremely rare instance, even Natarle had agreed with her decision.

However, that wasn't what troubled her. During their little talk, he mentioned something the girl, Aya, said: that she was a Newtype. When she had asked Lieutenant La Flaga, their unofficial expert on Martians, he gave his (now) infamous shrug.

"Beats me, like the minister said, Martians coordinate their genes to match a specific role in society. Maybe that's what they call the Vanguard over there."

"Precisely!" George said putting his arm around the Lieutenant's shoulder, "You've grown into such a fine young man Mu! If only your father were still alive he would be proud of you! A shame that I only have one daughter..."

Mu looked pleadingly at Murrue for help as the politician pulled him away but she'd already closed the door to the bridge.

That was just a few minutes ago.

Murrue never thought that the occasional beeping or the whispers of the other officers could be so relaxing. Well, they were to rendezvous with Admiral Halberton in a few hours and she could dump all the decision problems on him. She sighed and settled in her seat as comfortably as she could without slouching. What's the worst that could happen until then?

* * *

~ Archangel, Aya ~

Aya wandered around the darkened corridors of the ship going over things in her head such as recalling as much as she could on the events of SEED and thinking of possible escape routes from the system. Hope briefly flared in her chest when she discovered that her GP base had other functions now - and then it died. Browsing through the menus, Aya couldn't find anything that remotely looked like a log out button. Instead there were programs that one would normally find on a computer, but the most interesting ones she discovered were the ones that allowed her to adjust the "settings", for lack of a better word, on the X2. While it looked user friendly, it wasn't what the redhead was looking for.

"Back to my original plan," Aya thought sourly, "Hm? Who's that?"

Due to the low light she could barely make out a person staring out into space. Suddenly things made sense and she shuddered with disgust. There was only one person in the show doing that at around this time. It was Kira! He was obviously still brooding on Athrun's words from earlier despite not getting chewed out by Flay...which meant that he was going to yell. _The yell_. Many teen's ears had been burned when they heard it the first time and Aya was not eager to hear it again, especially not this close. She had to stop him! Oh no, his fist was on the window! His head was leaning in!

"You." Aya said a bit too loudly, adopting her character's persona.

"Huh?" Kira looked at her, "Oh. Its you."

Phew. A second to spare.

The teen tried to hide a few droplets of tears by hurriedly wiping his eyes on his sleeves.

"The only reason you're still alive buddy is because you might be a ticket out of here." Aya thought darkly.

"How did you see me in the d- Oh! That's right you're a coordinator as well." Kira said, trying to hide his emotional state with banter.

Aya was still debating whether to reveal that she was a "natural" as part of her character when they both heard an annoying sound.

"Haro! Over there! Haro!"

"I hope I'm not disturbing anything." A sweet voice said.

Aya turned to see Lacus floating towards them.

"N-no! not at all!" Kira stuttered.

"I am Lacus Clyne." Lacus said, introducing herself to Aya.

"Aya Melanthos." Aya replied.

"Just in time pinkie." The redhead thought with amusement as she caught Haro in mid-bounce. However, something about the situation bothered her. Lacus still appeared despite her preventing _the yell_. It seemed that some things didn't change at all despite her interference with the events. She'd have to do something about that.

"He was staring at the pursuing ship." Aya added.

"Oh? Why would you be doing that?" Lacus asked with a tilt of her head.

Kira and Lacus began their conversation about how they both knew Athrun as Aya drifted back into the shadows, not feeling the need to be part of the conversation. The little robot attempted to squirm out of her hold.

"Haro! Please let me go! Haro!"

She looked down at the little robot and smiled.

"...Please. Haro!"

"Quiet now little one." She cooed.

"I see." Lacus said in a resigned tone. The conversation had ended. It was time to prod Kira into action. If ever the officers of the Archangel decided to take action against her, she could always blame Kira.

"A shame it will never come to pass." Aya said as she stepped out of the shadows. Both teens looked surprised, almost forgetting she was there.

"What do you mean?" Kira asked, "She's not a soldier! Which means she's not a prisoner of war! They have to let her go!"

"I heard you and your friends talking in the dining area." Aya smiled, "You may be a citizen of a neutral state but she isn't. There are historical precedents of states detaining citizens of the belligerent nation during wartime, especially after being in a warship."

Kira looked away, ashamed at the actions the Alliance was taking.

Aya gently tossed the now silent Haro to Lacus and drifted in the direction of the locker rooms. Now that the idea was planted in Kira's mind and it would be best to use the interval to prepare. That flight suit was a bit tricky to get into. She heard Lacus one more time as she drifted away.

"Mr. Haro! Where have you been?!"

* * *

~ Archangel, Kira ~

Kira led Lacus silently through the corridors. This wasn't right! He didn't rescue her so she could be used as a hostage! She was also Athrun's fiancee...

Along the way he ran into Sai and Mirallia, thankfully he had managed to convince them to let them escape. He knew he could count on them!

"This way!" he urged Lacus as he opened the door to the locker room only to find Aya sitting there, wearing her flight suit.

"Your actions are frighteningly easy to predict." She said in her strange, emotionless voice.

Kira tensed. Would he have to fight her? He might be a coordinator but she was as well. She was likely trained in hand to hand combat if she could pilot a mobile suit...

"Why?" She asked.

"This is wrong! Taking hostages isn't the right thing to do!" Kira said, "Please...let us go."

The Martian uncrossed her arms and walked over to them.

"There is a price for everything." Aya said, "Do this and they might kill you. Is your life worth another's? Who will protect the ship when you are gone?"

The purple eyed teenager looked downcast.

"I suppose you are lucky that you are not a citizen of the Alliance, and that its rules do not apply to you." She continued. "Or me."

Kira's eyes brightened, it seemed he had gotten through to the strange girl.

"However, I will be the one to take her."

"What?"

"I want you to get ready in case the hostile ship decides to field its mobile suits." Aya said, "Also I need you to hack the controls of the hanger. My mobile suit cannot remotely interface with the system on this ship."

"There will be no need for that. Mr. Yamato dislikes fighting as much as I do." Lacus added, "Should that unfortunate event occur, I will tell the ZAFT forces not to attack in the event they deploy."

"You can guarantee they will listen to you?"

"I am the head of the Junius Seven memorial delegation." Lacus said with uncharacteristic authority, "This matter would look...embarrassing back at the PLANTS if I reported that ZAFT took the opportunity to attack during a show of goodwill."

"Very well." Aya nodded, "Get changed."

"Thank you very much!" Lacus said as she took off the strap of her dress.

"Wait." Aya said and pointed to Kira imperiously, "You. Out!"

* * *

~ Vesalius, 6 hours ago ~

"But sir! We have to-"

"Athrun, we only have two mobile suits." Rau Le Creuset cut him off with his most reasonable sounding voice, "Unless the legged ship's electronics suddenly shut down we have little hope of boarding it, much less saving Miss Clyne. We have no choice but to wait and see how things develop."

"You didn't seem to care much about her when we were back at base." Rau thought snidely. However, it was time to move on to more interesting topics.

"Now then, give me your report on the black G-weapon."

"Yes sir." Athrun said dejectedly as he began his verbal report of the most recent happenings.

Rau Le Creuset leaned back, contemplating what little additional information he had obtained from Athrun's report after he had dismissed the distraught young man. During the battle he first realized that something was off when Hermann's GINN suddenly ceased transmitting right in front of the Alliance vessel. Few things could surprise the masked commander who had already seen both sides commit atrocities while defending their actions with honeyed words such as "self-defense" but this - was something else. From out of nowhere a black, but tiny, mobile suit had intervened and singlehandedly turned the tide of battle. Were it not for the legged ship taking Lacus Clyne hostage he didn't doubt that the black mobile suit would have continued attacking the Vesalius until it was sunk. How ironic.

At first glance the unknown mobile suit's design was similar to the other machines the Alliance was developing, however, size aside, it seemed to lack any distinguishing features. Whereas the Buster or the Blitz were clearly meant for their specific role, with the former lacking so much as a basic melee weapon, the only advantage the black mobile suit revealed was the use of beam weaponry and high maneuverability. Though it had a massive cannon strapped to its back skirt armor.

So many unknowns. Rau Le Creuset hated unknowns. Perhaps he would have better luck obtaining information about the pilot. Even if one were not to speak, their actions spoke volumes. One such case was the strike. The pilot's behavior, despite _knowing_ how to move the machine, clearly betrayed his inexperience even if Athrun didn't reveal who he was. The pilot (Kira was it?) hesitated one too many times, never used sound tactics and became erratic in the heat of battle.

He replayed the recording on the black mobile suit obtained by the Vesalius' powerful long range cameras.

Rau stopped a particular scene, and then replayed it just to be sure. There! Darius' GINN was damaged from an encounter with Mu La Flaga when he had attempted to bring down the unknown mobile suit. In a move almost too fast to follow, the unknown machine dodged two simultaneous shots from a formation designed to box in opponents. It then proceeded to destroy the damaged GINN in the most disturbing manner to anyone who had ever piloted a mobile suit. The black mobile suit stabbed its beam saber down through the head and slowly cut its way through the GINN as Darius screamed helplessly in his seat as the temperature rose, boiling him alive, until the pink energy blade finally found the cockpit.

Rau turned off the recording and leaned back in his chair processing the small, but nevertheless, valuable information he gleaned from the ZAFT pilot's horrific demise.

The pilot (perhaps female due to its posture?) clearly had little regard for the lives of others. If the video proved anything, it could be that she or he wasn't above "playing" with opponents if an opportunity presented itself. Yzak, as bloodthirsty as he was, always gave his opponents a quick death even after the acquisition of the Duel.

Rau tapped his desk slowly and made his decision. The mobile suit was a mystery, and its pilot a curiosity but nothing more. A single pilot and their mobile suit would not be able change the outcome of the war, especially not with the end he had in mind. Rau concluded that it would be best to continue with his plan to deny the Earth Alliance the data from the Strike and the legged ship. If they got a hold of its data, they could mass produce the technology and quickly overwhelm ZAFT with their superior resources. An outcome he did not desire since it was only half of what he wanted. It would be best to follow the original plan and destroy the ship, hopefully with the black mobile suit and Mu La Flaga in it when that happened. In fact it became even more imperative. Since the new mobile suit was traveling to Alliance territory, Rau wasn't so naive as to not think that the Alliance would simply let it sit there without...analyzing it.

The immediate problem at hand, however, was much more difficult. He simply wouldn't be able to get away with killing a chairman's daughter as collateral damage unlike Heliopolis. A lot of the councilors were already wary of him and not even his puppet, Patrick Zala, would be able to hold back the repercussions against such an act.

The masked man sighed. Try as he might, he could not find a situation to save Lacus and simultaneously destroy the legged ship. In an extremely rare instance Rau wished that someone on the Alliance ship would do something foolish. Wishes, after all, cost nothing right?

* * *

~ Archangel, Bridge, 5 minutes ago ~

"Unauthorized launch commencing at the starboard catapult!" An officer yelled.

Murrue's eyes flew open.

"Who is it?!" Both she and Natarle yelled simultaneously.

"Its...the black G-weapon, the X2A!" The officer reported, "I can't access the controls. We're locked out!"

"Get me a connection to the hanger!" Murrue ordered, "Now!"

Lieutenant La Flaga's sleepy face appeared on screen, clearly just as surprised as everyone was.

"Report!"

"Uh, it looks like that kid, Aya is taking Lacus back to the ZAFT ship." Mu said glaring at someone off screen, "She had help too. Kira here opened the hanger doors and locked you guys out."

"I knew it!" George Allster screamed through a voice-only icon to the bridge, "Those coordinators are abandoning us! They're using the Clyne girl to buy the good graces of ZAFT for earlier and...!"

"Sir, Kira is staying with us and says that Aya will be returning as well-" Mu started.

"AND YOU BELIEVE THEM?!" the elder Allster hollered, "He's probably staying to sabotage the ship-"

Murrue made a sliding gesture with her hand and the communications officer cut off the rant in mid-yell.

But just as Murrue solved one problem another came up.

"Target the unknown G-weapon as soon as it launches!"

"Ensign!" Murrue all but shouted.

"If we don't stop it, she could provide our enemies with sensitive information!" Natarle argued, "We don't even know if she's really coming back."

"If we shoot at her, she'll attack _us_ " Mu said, still on the line, "Not to mention it could work the PLANTs into a frenzy when they find out we actually murdered the Chairman's daughter."

Natarle looked shocked at the prediction.

"Just saying" Mu said playfully and then gravely added, "Captain, I think we should get ready for a fight. Le Creuset isn't gonna let an opportunity like this pass by."

"All hands! Level One battle stations." Murrue ordered.

"It was such a lovely dream too." she thought grumpily.

* * *

~ Vesalius ~

"Enemy mobile suit launched from the legged ship!" An operator reported.

"Commander." Captain Ades acknowledged Rau as he drifted onto the bridge, "An enemy mobile suit has just launched the from Alliance vessel and is heading towards us."

"And there's nothing we can do since they have Miss Clyne aboard." Rau said dryly, securing himself to his seat as he anticipated preliminary bombardment. However, fate had other plans for both parties.

"Attention ZAFT vessel." A voice said, "I am carrying with me the Junius Seven memorial representative, Lacus Clyne, who will be returned to you. After which you will retreat immediately from the immediate area. I suggest not taking a third option."

"Are they really returning miss Clyne to us...?" Captain Ades asked in disbelief.

"Commander!" Athrun broadcasted, already in his flight suit, "I'll retrieve miss Clyne. Please let me!"

Rau said nothing, the makings of a plan already forming in his mind.

"Very well, I'll allow it." He finally said.

"Thank you sir!" Athrun looked truly grateful as he cut the communication.

"Ades! Prepare to move to combat speed!" Rau instructed as he drifted to the door, "Engage the legged ship as soon as the rescue is complete and get my CGUE ready!"

* * *

~ Space, Athrun Zala ~

Despite waiting for less than five minutes in space Athrun was getting impatient. The person who hailed the Vesalius was definitely not Kira so it had to be the pilot of the black mobile suit. What was her game? He could imagine Kira trying to pull off this stunt but not a total unknown. Well, he'd be ready if they tried anything. Athrun then realized it would be extremely difficult to defend both Lacus and fight off the mobile suit with its insane speed. He would have to hope that there really was nothing more to it.

A couple of minutes later the machine appeared in front of the Aegis, its black paint scheme rendering it almost invisible in the backdrop of space.

"Athrun Zala?" A feminine voice inquired.

"Yes, I am." Athrun replied.

"Open your cockpit and step out." The voice instructed.

Athrun did as he was told, preparing himself for an ambush.

Once he complied the black mobile suit opened one of its closed hands, revealing a person in a normal suit...with a pink Haro in its hands.

"He can't see your face." He heard the voice through the comm.

"Oh I see!" A bright voice whom Athrun instantly recognized, "Hello Athrun! Its good to see you again!" The figure waved.

"I confirm it's Lacus Clyne!" Athrun said, relief flooding through him.

The mobile suit slowly extended its arm towards the Aegis and Lacus crossed the rest of way.

"Thank goodness you're safe!" Athrun said happily.

"We have miss Aya to thank," Lacus said smiling through the visor, "and Mr. Yamato as well."

"Kira?" Athrun wondered in surprise, then he looked at the black mobile suit, with its arm still extended.

"Is she a coordinator too?" Athrun asked Lacus as he switched frequencies.

"I believe so," The pinkette answered, "I heard Mr. Yamato say so before I talked too them."

"I see." Athrun thought, "Another one of us, exploited by the naturals."

He switched his frequencies.

"You should come with us as well!" Athrun called. The mobile suit tilted its head in response.

"There's no reason for a coordinator to fight for the Alliance!" Athrun continued, "We'll sort out whatever happened to you back at the PLANTs! Lacus and I can help you."

The comm crackled before the pilot, Aya, responded.

"Thank you for the offer, you are indeed kind as Lacus said," Aya spoke in a lilting voice, a tone completely different from earlier, "But I'm not the one going anywhere..."

A black shape approached the pair and Athrun, with his quick reflexes granted by gene coordination, barely had enough time cover Lacus with his body as they were swept into empty space. As they tumbled through space he watched as the black mobile suit grab the Aegis...

* * *

~ Archangel, Bridge ~

"Enemy ZAFT vessel has activated its engines!" A crewman reported, "It also launched a mobile suit!"

"All hands, prepare for ship-to-ship combat!" Murrue ordered, "Lieutenant?!"

"Damn, I knew Le Creuset would try something!" Mu growled, "Moebius Zero, Launching!"

"Incoming transmission from the X2A!" the communications officer said, "Directed towards us and the Moebius Zero!"

"Patch it through!" Murrue said, "X2A! What the hell do you think you're-"

"Lieutenant," Aya transmitted, ignoring Murrue, "Does your machine have a cable of sorts?"

"Yeah, why?" Mu answered as the mobile armor left the hanger and accelerated towards the Vesalius, "Oh, no...kid you're not gonna-"

"Catch!"

* * *

~ Vesalius, Rau Le Creuset ~

Rau laughed as his CGUE launched from the ship. Maybe there was something to this wishing business after all. Initially he was prepared to stage a surprise attack on the enemy mobile suit and the ship, however, the most recent developments had not only removed the one obstacle protecting the legged ship but it also gave a moral justification of sorts for his actions!

"Ades! Send an infantry transport to collect Athrun and miss Clyne." He said, a little bit too cheerfully, referring to the commando transports that were used on Heliopolis.

"If you hoped to detract me by having me recover them, you are gravely mistaken young lady." Rau thought coldly as he approached the black mobile suit.

Just as he was nearing the two machines, the blonde saw the black mobile suit take hold of the Aegis and flip over and towards the legged ship. Rau couldn't help but respect the pilot's skill when the saw multiple thrusters flare in minute sequences to allow it to toss the Aegis in the desired direction. A shame it was going to be destroyed. Suddenly, Rau was forced to dodge to the side.

The black G-weapon drew its beam pistol (was that a flintlock?!) and fired as it flipped over. Several shots missed by a few meters, with nothing but Rau's well developed spatial awareness aiding him in anticipating an attack.

And then Rau sensed him...

Using the CGUE's main camera he spied the Moebius Zero hooking the Aegis and towing it back towards the legged ship. So that was their game! Very well! Take it! The engineers on the Vesalius and the Gamow have already analyzed the four G-weapons!

A new form of curiosity developed in Rau towards the mobile suit pilot as he fired a burst with his heavy machine gun. However, this time, rather than firing a retaliatory shot, the pilot aimed away from the CGUE which surprised Le Creuset. His silent query was answered when two explosions lit up in space. The transports Ades had sent out were now floating wreckage in the void, destroyed before they could reach Athrun and Lacus. The masked commander smiled. How very amusing!

Rau fire alternating bursts with the machine gun and the shield mounted gatling gun of his mobile suit. In a display of speed never before seen in Cosmic Era, the two machines flew in a spiral pattern like angry fireflies, trading shots when the opportunity arose though the black mobile suit clearly held the advantage in speed and maneuverability. During the fighting Rau felt a familiar sensation wash over him. It was like fighting Mu La Flaga, but it definitely did not feel like him. No longer able to contain himself Rau opened a link to the mobile suit.

"Adding a dash of malevolence to the blood thirst girl?" He called, referring to the transport's earlier demise. When it seemed the pilot wouldn't deign to respond, the line crackled.

"La...Flaga..." A voice whispered in a half-statement, half-question.

Were Rau not wearing a mask the look of rage and surprise on his face would have been enough to send animals running. The CGUE showed it's pilot's shock as it faltered, and then hurriedly took evasive action, though no shots were fired from the enemy machine. She knew?! or she suspected?! Did this feeling work both ways?!

"Calm yourself." The blonde chided his inner self, "I eliminated all who know of who I am. What I truly am."

"No...you are not him..." The girl's voice whispered once more, "Who...are you?"

Rau almost sighed with relief as his fears were seemingly unfounded. However, the moment of laxity cost him as the enemy suddenly changed course and surged towards him, beam saber drawn. He fired bursts from both his weapons and tried to evade, knowing that trying to block the beam weapon with his CGUE's physical sword was suicide. The enemy suit dodged the attacks and cleanly sliced the shield-arm off.

Rau turned his mobile suit around, intending to shoot the machine in the back as it passed by but the enemy machine had flown in a direction that hampered the accuracy of the CGUE's remaining arm. It rolled and faced him in a "standing" position, with one foot tucked behind another in same pose as in the video. With fluid grace it did a small bow and extended its arm towards a direction. Deciding to humor his enemy, Rau focused on the spot it indicated and was surprised to find Athrun and Lacus in the general vicinity, still clinging on to each other.

Suddenly his senses flared and he pulled the CGUE back just as a green lance of energy covered the spot he occupied earlier. Rau turned to see the legged ship's beam cannons trained on him and the Moebius Zero heading his way. The Vesalius, aware of the transports' destruction could not fire back since Athrun and Lacus were in the area right in front of it...

"Another time then!" The masked man growled, "Ades! Prepare to retreat as soon as we've returned!"

* * *

~ Archangel, Hanger ~

The emotions in the Archangel were mixed. While the Alliance personnel were overjoyed at the return of the Aegis, there was also the issue of the hacking and the delivering Lacus to ZAFT... Despite this, a few of the mechanics cheered as the X2A docked in its spot opposite of the Strike and now, the Aegis.

"Well kid, that was some stunt you pulled out there," Mu said as Aya joined them on the deck which was seconded by a few people, "I've also never seen anyone hold off Le Creuset like that, but uh, the captain's gonna want to see you..."

"After I change." Aya said

She looked at Kira who was now in cuffs and guarded by two soldiers in body armor. Since no one moved to hold her apparently, hacking the ship the was the more serious offense. However, it was also most likely a combination of the recapture of the Aegis as well as an order on the part of Mu La Flaga.

"Thanks." Kira said a bit shyly.

"Now that there is another machine, I trust you will fight more seriously in the future?" Aya asked.

Kira was dumbstruck.

"Th-that's what you did _this_ for?!" He yelled as Aya was about to pass him by. The redhead turned and regarded him coolly with her blue eyes.

"You...! Why do you people insist on making me fight!" Kira yelled to no one in particular, his tears welling up in his eyes.

"Now, now Kira..." Mu said, trying to calm him, but the purple eyed teen was despondent.

"We never wanted to be a part of this war! Me and my friends, our families, we just wanted-"

Aya slapped him.

The deck was silent, though there a few eyes wide with surprise. A pair of them belonged to Kira.

"W-what are you doing?!" He spluttered in surprise.

"I am correcting your state of mind." Aya replied simply.

"You and _your friends_ are in a situation where you have no overall control." she explained, "This conflict will follow you until you leave the ship. You are being pursued by an enemy who thinks nothing of the lives of those on board. If wish to cower in a corner hoping for the best you will have doomed everyone who is not a soldier here."

"What that man in the dining area said earlier was correct," Aya continued, "Those on Mars coordinate their genes so they can be useful to society and nobody is left without purpose."

"If you will not fight, I suggest you be of some other use rather than be a burden." The redhead concluded as she drifted towards the nearest door.

* * *

Author's note:

Chapter 3 is finished! Kira gets Bright slapped near the end! Only time will tell if he'll change for the better. I keep mentioning _the yell_. If you're curious it does occur in this episode in canon (Ep. 10 I think) and let me just say it was the most horrible thing I've ever heard.

To answer some questions, I do apologize for any mistakes in grammar or spelling but I type this on my free time (which isn't much) and mostly late at night. I will address those errors in the future so if you're following and see an "update" within the week after this chapter it will only be an edit and not a true update.

Second, just as my research has uncovered the existence of colonists on Mars, it yielded an unsurprising result with Mu's family. I remember seeing him in a fancy suit in a flashback (which SEED has a lot of) and the wiki only confirmed my suspicions.

Third, some readers might be confused as to whether she is really stuck in a video game or transported to the SEED universe. So, yes its official. Aya is stuck in Cosmic Era as a real, living person. Her newtype abilities are a result of the Plavsky particles which also brought her there. I'm still trying to decide on how to portray this back in the real world.

On a side note, people didn't react to the A on the X2's number since nuclear mobile suits weren't even on the drawing board (computer?) at the time.

Also, I didn't think the pixie motif would stick. Coincidentally, they are described as a short mischievous spirit. Wow.

Lastly, the next chapter is already planned out but will be a bit delayed since its my other story's turn to receive a chapter.

Thanks for the follows and reviews. Till next time!


	4. Chapter 4: Blitz Gambit

**I do not own Gundam Build Fighters/Try or any of the Gundam franchise.**

 **This story is inspired by Eyes in SEED authored by Nemesis Astrea and is written with his permission.**

* * *

CHAPTER 4:

Blitz Gambit

~ _Gamow_ , ZAFT ship, 10 hours ago ~

"But by the time we get there they'll be in range of the lunar fleet in ten minutes if they continue on that speed." Nicol said, trying to sound as reasonable as he could.

Along the way, the green haired coordinator had attempted, and still was attempting, to convince the Joule scion to not push through with the attack. Based on the suddenness of declaration Nicol could only imagine that Yzak Joule had suddenly woken up and declared that they would attack the legged ship.

There really was no other explanation for the insanity he was trying to hold back on the bridge.

Still, this was beyond even the brashness of his friend. Even with the advanced armor and beam weaponry of the stolen G-Weapons they couldn't hope to defeat an entire fleet on their own. Not to mention the fact that they would be fighting the legged ship the entire ten minutes of the way and consuming power. So far the vessel had refused to roll over and just explode and it didn't indicate any intention to so anytime soon. The image of wild dogs attacking a lion came to the forefront of Nicol's mind.

"The cowards should remain silent!" Yzak sneered, "Just ten minutes or a full ten minutes? Its how you use it that counts."

"I agree." Dearka Elsman said, "If there's a chance to sink that ship it should be taken."

"Of course you would." Nicol thought, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

"Captain Zellman," Nicol said, turning to the last bastion of sanity on the bridge, "Can we sink the legged ship in our current state?"

"Hmmm...aside from your machines we only have one more GINN aboard," The bearded captain said thoughtfully, "If we strike hard and fast it could work, one of you will have to target the bridge while the the other two machines keep the defenders busy. We'll have to hold the GINN in reserve though, I heard from the _Vesalius_ that the enemy somehow recaptured the Aegis."

Nicol's hopes deflated.

"Hah! Looks like Athrun doesn't have what it takes!" Yzak declared hitting two birds with one stone in his gloating, "And that's all the more reason to sink the ship. Listen, it goes down before the commander and that weakling gets here, understood?"

The two reds agreed, though Nicol made it clear he was against it.

"The _Gamow_ will provide fire support," Captain Zellman said, "Assume that they will use the Aegis against us as well."

"Even if they did, those dirty naturals wouldn't know how to use it properly!" Yzak scoffed.

* * *

~ Archangel ~

Kira stumbled out of the captain's quarters extremely relieved, or rather the floating equivalent of it. As soon as the commotion from the events earlier settled down, he was put on trial for helping Lacus escape. Ensign Badgiruel argued strongly against his actions, while Lieutenant La Flaga...almost helped bury him deeper. Thankfully, Murrue Ramius was a reasonable person, despite being an officer with a ship and crew to look after. While she made sound like he was going to be executed, the brunette acting captain ended the pronouncement by saying that he was a civilian, and a citizen of a foreign nation to boot, which means that military regulations do not apply to him.

"All done?" came a voice, "That took a lot longer than I thought it would."

Kira looked up, mildly annoyed when he recognized the voice. There, leaning on the wall, was the blue-eyed Martian pilot who had "helped" him earlier.

"Well, they had a lot more things to say to me." He said, trying to sound gruff. It didn't seem to work as her eyes twinkled merrily, as if she enjoying a good joke. Oh, wait. She probably was.

During the "court marital" he discovered that when Aya was questioned earlier, she stated that he seemed absolutely determined to carry out his plan to help Lacus escape and that she only acted the way she did to salvage something from the situation. In short Aya had pointed Kira out as the mastermind behind the entire ordeal that could have ended very badly for everyone aboard but him since he was initially planning to pilot the Strike. Which was technically true, but still!

"Thanks for 'helping' out," Kira said, "but couldn't you have been more gentle at least? You could have killed Lacus and...the pilot of the Aegis."

"Not my concern." Aya shrugged.

"Well, of course it isn't." He thought sarcastically.

"What are you still doing here anyway?" He asked.

"Your friends were waiting for you. The girl and the one with glasses." She answered, "I told them to go away."

"Why?" Kira asked, bewildered, "Uh, did you want to talk about something?"

"No."

"Then why?!" Kira was close to ripping out chunks of his hair just talking to this girl!

"They were annoying." Aya replied in her characteristic blunt manner.

"Whoa! Hey, get a room you two!" Mu exclaimed jovially as he exited the captain's room, pleased with the outcome of the court martial. Natarle didn't even look at them as she floated in the opposite direction. No doubt to blow off steam by writing a very angry, but still objective, report.

"You move pretty quick there kid!" He said in an implying tone to Aya.

The blonde man pulled Kira in close and whispered, "Remember Kira, she _spaces_ the competition. Do not make her angry during your date or at the very least stay away from airlocks."

"W-what?!" Kira spluttered. Earlier on he insinuated that Kira should have kept Lacus as a girlfriend and now this?!

In response, Mu floated away with a thumbs up. Aya gave no indication that she heard the whispers, but how couldn't she?! She was right next to them!

"What are you doing later?" She asked.

The purple eyed teen blushed. She did hear! And now she was probably trying tease him.

"I was going to talk to my friends," He said.

"That should take less than an hour." Aya said bluntly, "What happens after?"

"I don't know!" Kira said throwing his arms up in frustration, "Maybe recalibrate the Strike's OS. There! Does that sound productive enough for you?"

Aya smiled in response. Uh-oh.

"I see. I think I have a solution to your 'problem' on the battlefield," She said smiling coyly, "Get Lieutenant La Flaga to help."

"He already does that!" Kira exclaimed exasperatedly.

"In a mobile suit?" The Martian retorted while raising an eyebrow.

"Wait...you want me to -" He said, beginning to comprehend her suggestion.

"Make the operating system of the Aegis usable by naturals." Aya finished.

"No! That would - I won't be responsible for any more deaths!" Kira declared.

Aya rolled her eyes in response.

"They're going to finish it eventually." She said, "Look at it this way, by completing the OS the lieutenant will be able to perform better on the battlefield leaving you free to take potshots at the enemy and focus on defending the ship."

"Even if I do that, its not like anyone can just jump into a mobile suit!" Kira tried one more time to persuade her, "You need to train even for a little bit to get used to it. Besides, we're almost in range of the lunar fleet."

"Your enemies appear to be very determined. They won't miss a chance to sink this ship." Aya said, "I wouldn't be surprised if they did something desperate or insane to delay you from meeting up with the Alliance fleet or even attack while said fleet is guarding you. You can talk the lieutenant through the process while you work."

Kira looked peeved at her reasoning.

"Think about it." the red-head said as she floated away.

* * *

~ Archangel bridge, 10 minutes until rendezvous with Lunar Fleet ~

"Ten minutes until within communication range the Lunar Fleet," the communications officer reported and couldn't help but add joyfully, "We made it!".

The crewmen cheered upon hearing the good news.

"Please don't jinx it..." Murrue thought worriedly, though she too was admittedly relieved as well.

"Stay alert!" came a strict voice, "Fleet movements attract enemy forces!"

Murrue frowned. Natarle was a good officer but Murrue was beginning to wonder if she had ever stopped being one. While she didn't consider herself a sloppy officer she had never actually met anyone who lived and breathed the profession before.

The radar sounded, registering contacts.

"Just great." She thought as she moved towards her chair.

"Do we have an identification yet?" Natarle called as she secured herself to her chair.

"These silhouettes...Its the Buster, Duel and Blitz!" the operator responded, "We also have a Laurasia class ship!"

"Get the Strike and the Moebius Zero ready!"

"Mu La Flaga here!" came a voice through the intercom, "Suited up and ready to deploy."

"What?" She thought stunned, "Were those two already prepared? How?"

"That was quick Lieutenant," Murrue said, "Did you suspect this would happen as well?"

"Actually, Me and Kira were already in the hanger," Mu explained, "He was working on the OS of the Aegis while giving me a crash course on how to operate it."

Murrue's eyes widened with surprise at this piece of information.

"What about the X2A?" Natarle inquired.

"Uh, no sign of her anywhere." Mu reported after a few seconds.

"Someone find her then!" Natarle ordered, "And tell the other ship to get some distance from us and provide cover fire."

* * *

~ Archangel, Dining Area ~

"Excuse me miss," A girl with bunches spoke to Aya, "Why didn't you leave with your friends? Are you grounded?"

"They're not my friends," Aya responded. She had to raise her voice a bit to be heard over the warning klaxons.

"But you're wearing the same clothes." The brown haired child pointed out.

"I'm only borrowing them." She said.

"There you are!" a male voice called.

The little girl squeaked and ran away, the man had the expression of her father when she did something wrong. Aya didn't bother to move from her spot in the dining area.

The elder Allster, with his daughter in tow, walked towards Aya clearly annoyed but also nervous.

"The Strike and Lieutenant La Flaga have already left!" George Allster yelled over the klaxons, "Why aren't you suited up and heading towards the hanger?!"

"Not my fight." Aya responded calmly.

"What do you mean?!" George asked, "Is this about you not wanting to fight your fellow coordinators? They're shooting at us! This ship could be sunk at any moment, with you in it!"

"No it isn't." The Martian replied, "And this ship has sufficient defenses."

"I heard its three versus two out there!" Flay said, entering the conversation, "They're outnumbered!"

The redhead shrugged in response.

An explosion rocked the ship.

"The Blitz is beside the bridge!" a voice yelled over an open channel.

"Do you see?! You have to help them!" Flay whined as another explosion rocked the ship, "Oh god! We're going to die!"

The teen in front of them made a disugusted noise.

"Very well."

* * *

~ Space ~

In space the Strike locked beam blades with the Duel, however, the battle was going in favor of the blue machine as its pilot kept the Strike from rushing to the Archangel's defense. Elsewhere the Buster kept the Moebius Zero busy, managing to destroy one of the four gunpods with a blast from its Gunlauncher.

Yzak Joule grinned ferally as he saw another explosion near the bridge of the legged ship. Just a few more shots and his plan would see the accursed legged ship sunk!

"Oh no you don't!" He said gleefully, firing a burst from his beam rifle as the Strike tried to return once more. The attack kept the G-weapon's attention on the Duel, which was exactly what the silver haired pilot wanted. He was going to add the Strike's destruction to his accomplishments after the ship was sunk. From behind him the _Gamow_ fired another shot from its main cannon, more for suppressing the movement of the Alliance ship rather than attacking since the Blitz was already on it. Suddenly the Gamow contacted him.

"Be advised, the legged ship's catapult is opening," The ZAFT operator said to all three machines, "They could be launching the other machine reported by the Vesalius."

"I see it!" Nicol broadcasted. He had halted the Blitz's attacks and readied himself to face the new enemy machine.

"Wait...where is going?" Nicol said, surprised that it ignored him, "Yzak! Its headed your way!"

"Two on one huh?!" Yzak snarled, "Well, bring it!"

To the surprise of the young ZAFT pilot, and apparently the Strike as well, the black machine sped past the two G-weapons. Its large thrusters, said to be in a X formation in the reports, were collapsed together making it seem like there was a rocket attached to the back of the mobile suit.

"It heading for the _Gamow_!" Dearka called out when he estimated the unit's flight path.

"Hah! These naturals are idiots!" Yzak said as he parried a blow from the Strike.

* * *

~ _Gamow_ , Bridge ~

"Incoming heat source! Believed to be an enemy mobile suit!" An operator said.

"So they do have a third machine." Captain Zellman thought as an image appeared on screen, "Anti-Air batteries provide cover fire for the launch the GINN."

He looked at the machine that matched the reports the _Vesalius_ passed along. It was mainly black, with gold-yellow and light purple as secondary colors. It held what looked to be a beam rifle but no other visible weapons.

The black machine zipped sideways to avoid the barrage of anti-air fire while taking aim with its own beam rifle. It fired twice, with pink energy beams rather than the green he had come to expect from the G-weapons.

An explosion rocked the ship.

"Anti-air guns 8-11 destroyed!" an operator reported.

"Anti-air, what are you doing? Keep it away from the ship." Zellman asked, annoyed. The Alliance had never given him this much trouble before, even if just two out of three of their machines were piloted by Coordinators. He watched the screen again as the black mobile suit weaved in and out of the diminished barrage.

"Opening catapult hatch, prepare for emergency sortie!"

Zellman's eyes bulged with realization that enemy mobile suit's flight path would bring it directly in front of the catapult. He was about to order the halt of the launch but it was too late.

"GINN, launching!"

The captain of the ZAFT vessel could only cover his eyes with one hand and brace himself on his chair as the black mobile suit fired upon the GINN as it exited the catapult. The unit didn't even get to tumble as it exploded, damaging the entrance of the hanger bay and peppering the interior of the ship with shrapnel.

"Severe damage to the catapult hatch!" An operator yelled, "Unable to confirm the status of technicians at this point!"

There was another flash, giving the ship's crew no rest as another explosion registered on the bridge.

"Main turret destroyed! Seal off the area on that section!"

Zellman grit his teeth. This operation was supposed to be easy with all the planning they put into it, and now they were getting their noses bloodied by a single suit?!

"What's the closest machine to us?" He asked a nearby operator.

"The Duel sir!"

"Have Yzak protect us! Maintain a barrage on the legged ship with our other weapons!"

* * *

~ Duel, Yzak Joule ~

"Duel come in!" A voice interrupted Yzak as once more tried to break through the Strike's defenses, "The _Gamow_ is under attack, Anti-air batteries are down to 60%, return at once and provide support!"

As if to underscore the danger the _Gamow_ was in four lances of green energy beams from the legged ship's main cannons shot towards the ZAFT ship, with two of the four connecting.

"Damn it! What the hell are you guys doing?!" Yzak thought angrily before saying, "Nicol, keep the Strike off my back! Dearka, ignore the mobile armor it can't damage you with your Phase Shift armor. Sink the legged ship!"

"Should'a done this from the start, all I need is a couple of solid hits!" The blonde coordinator complained.

"Yzak! I'm here!" Nicol de-cloaked while simultaneously taking a swipe at the Strike, shearing off a part of the Striker pack's wings.

Yzak didn't bother to respond as he took off towards the ZAFT ship.

"Filthy naturals!" He grit his teeth as he pushed the Duel to its speed limit.

The camera zoomed in to reveal the catapult in ruins, and the remaining guns trying in vain to track the black machine that seemed to dance around the ship. Thankfully, ZAFT ships were more sensibly designed with the bridge either buried in the ship itself or protected from flanking or underside attacks.

"I won't let you ruin my plan!" Yzak yelled. He waited until the machine was away from the hull of the ship in one of its evasive maneuvers before firing. Almost as if it knew of the attack in advance, the black mobile suit adjusted its positioning so the the beam missed its body. The enemy halted its attack and turned to face the oncoming Duel as if noticing it for the first time.

Not giving the enemy a chance to rest, Yzak fired the underslung grenade from his rifle. The mobile suit fired its head mounted vulcans destroying the grenade before it got near but it served its purpose. The explosion allowed the Duel to close the distance and in one smooth motion drew its beam saber and swung it downwards. The attack was blocked by a massive light pink energy beam from the enemy's own beam saber. Both machines struggled briefly but Yzak noticed his opponent didn't have a shield of sorts, just vambrace like objects on its forearms that kept the shield at bay by holding on to it. And its back was towards the _Gamow_ now.

With a roar the silver haired pilot activated all the thrusters on his machine and began to push the black mobile suit towards the ship, intent on smashing it on the hull. Then to his surprise and shock his enemy activated all four of the large thrusters and prevented the Duel from pushing any further despite the size difference between the two mobile suits.

Then something he had never seen before happened.

The enemy's G-weapon type head opened up and the mouth area glowed a bright yellow and the large beam began to glow in intensity, from a light pink to a darker tone. The beam blade then began to _cut through_ his own beam saber. Only his enhanced reflexes through gene coordination allowed him to react on time by reversing his direction and even then without suffering damage. The beam's slash ripped a gash near the cockpit, with only a few feet of metal between him and the void of space. The phase shift in that segment flickered unreliably from the damage.

"Bastard!" Yzak snarled as he fired the Duel's head vulcans. The firing arc was limited, however, since his opponent's machine was almost a head shorter than the Duel.

"Yzak!" Nicol called out as he fired shots from the Blitz's Trikeros.

"Pin him!" Yzak growled, momentarily forgetting about the legged ship as he pushed his opponent away with his shield.

Seeing what happened to the Duel, the Blitz kept its distance. The stealth mobile suit twisted back and then launched its Gleipnir rocket claw. The black mobile suit slashed it in half, completely destroying the unit in a moment, but a moment was all Yzak needed.

"Got you now!" he yelled thrusting his beam saber outwards.

The enemy, as if once more sensing the attack, pirouetted and lashed out with a kick at the end to the Duel's damaged torso. Unseen to both pilots, a blade extended in the X2A's foot just before making contact. With the phase shift armor weakened in that area the remaining armor crumpled inwards. Due to the main interior monitor flickering because of damage Yzak never expected it to slam into his face, spraying him with sharp glass. The young pilot screamed in pain as he clutched his ruined face, his helmet and its visor preventing the harmful materials from being all but fatal.

"Yzak?! Are you all right?!" Nicol yelled in worry.

The Duel drifted towards the _Gamow_ unmoving, its beam saber deactivated.

"It hurts! _It hurts!_ " Yzak screamed, unaware that he was broadcasting on an open allied frequency when the Duel's computer detected severe damage to its systems and connected to the preset frequency automatically.

Through the haze of pain Yzak heard Nicol warn Dearka that the Lunar Fleet was in range and ordered a retreat.

Unable to bear both the physical pain and humiliation Yzak let loose another pained cry as the Duel was dragged away by the Blitz while the Buster provided covering fire.

* * *

Author's Note:

Ugh, this chapter is not my best work. Even the time it took to write was long because while the conversation in the first segment was easy to write, I wasn't sure on how to write the fight scenes. Well at least this is done. I'm going to try and compress the next three episodes into two chapters since that's what I've been planning since chapter 1.

Ahem, as to why I had the X2 attack the Gamow first, the reason is that the Archangel can take more than a few hits while the former is easier to destroy since its a conventional ship (i.e. no plot armor).

On the other hand, the X2 is beginning to show some of its more exotic characteristics in battle. The reason why it didn't completely punch through the cockpit of the duel is the same as in the anime (GBFT). Its a physical weapon, has a short length, and combined with the (presumably) thicker armor of C.E. mechs means its really a weapon of surprise or desperation. It didn't do a lot of damage in the manga or in the anime and there's no reason it would do any more here.

Anyway, until next time.


	5. Chapter 5: Showdown at High Orbit

**I do not own Gundam Build Fighters/Try or any of the Gundam franchise.**

 **This story is inspired by Eyes in SEED authored by Nemesis Astrea and is written with his permission.**

* * *

CHAPTER 5:

Showdown at High Orbit

* * *

~ Vesalius, Hanger, two days later... ~

In the emptiness of space three ships held their position, projecting a scene of calm. The image was such that one would not think of them as ships designed for war were it not for the numerous gashes, improvised repairs or the multitude of weapons on their hulls. One was teal, sharp and angular while another, much more bulky, was colored a drab green. A third, gray and more blocky and utilitarian than its two comrades, had arrived with the green one carrying much needed supplies for the living - and to ferry the departed home.

"Its a shame that we have to part so soon after meeting." Lacus spoke in a sad tone as she and Athrun drifted towards the waiting shuttle.

"Sorry," Athrun replied, finding that he genuinely regretted it, "But everyone in the PLANTs is worried."

"I suppose it can't be helped then." Lacus said resignedly as they landed. She turned towards masked the individual waiting for them at the doorway.

"Thank you for all your help Commander Le Creuset," She acknowledging the blonde, "Will the Vesalius be able to attend the Memorial Service?"

"I'm afraid not," Rau Le Creuset responded with a hint of emotion, "The _Vesalius_ already has new orders and even we won't be able to make it in time."

"I see," Lacus already expected this answer, "War results are important, however, please do not forget those who sacrifice their lives on the battlefield."

"I give you my word." Le Creuset said with a smile.

"War is indeed difficult," Lacus turned to Athrun, "What should one be fighting for?"

Athrun found that he had no ready answer. The reason for joining the war was easy, after having to fight Kira though, the answer no longer seemed so clear and simple. He was so distracted by his thoughts that he didn't notice that Lacus moved in close to give him chaste kiss on the cheek.

Shocked, Athrun could not stop his face from becoming as red as his uniform.

"Until the next time we meet." Lacus smiled as she entered the shuttle.

Minutes later, Athrun and Rau Le Creuset watched the shuttle enter the _Laurasia_ class ship and the ZAFT vessel began to slowly change its direction for the PLANTS.

"What should one be fighting for?" Rau said, quoting the celebrity, "Have you heard about what happened to Yzak?"

The question snapped Athrun out of his stupor and he looked at his masked superior.

"I suspect that it won't bode well for us should that legged ship reach Earth, the Strike included." Rau said as he drifted off to the bridge.

* * *

~ Archangel ~

Aya closed the system menu in frustration. Earlier she had entered the X2A's cockpit under the pretense of system maintenance, however, the consequences of the action wasn't really thought out in retrospect. She had to awkwardly brush off Chief Engineer Murdock's offer to help with the mobile suit, considering she wouldn't understand half of what he might actually say or ask her about her suit. Once she was inside she, for the third time since coming to the SEED universe, looked for some sort of log out or exit button and just like every occasion found nothing of the sort.

There was also the pressing problem now of having to deal with reality, which was currently where she was sitting in. Earlier in the day, Aya accidentally cut herself in the bathroom. It was a pretty shallow cut, something that didn't even need a band-aid. However, the single drop of blood and a slight stinging pain served to remind her that this was real, and she was in it deep.

Finding nothing to alleviate to her stress (huddling in the bathroom and hyperventilating quickly lost its appeal) she let out an impressive string of curse words that would have brought down her mother's wrath harder than a landslide. Thankfully, the X2A's cockpit was soundproof.

Feeling much better, Aya turned on the secondary systems which she'd gotten to know over the frustrating course of looking for an exit button. The Plavsky Particle controls materialized over where the throttles and pedals would have been and the Panoramic cockpit display lit up shortly after. The redhead glanced around, observing the activity around the hanger and attempted to follow what was happening.

Over at a corner Mu La Flaga stretched himself out on the upper chest of the Aegis, a small smile over his lips as he flipped the pages of a...contraband magazine. Eventually Kira's head popped out like a gofer, looking mildly annoyed as he spoke to the Lieutenant. It probably had something to do with the Aegis' controls. Aya shut off the panoramic monitors and moved to detach her GP Base, but hesitated.

The Plavsky Particle control orbs felt...warm and safe. Though Aya didn't think she'd soon tire of simply flying through space there was something...comforting about the particles.

"Maybe just...for...a few minutes." Aya mumbled to herself as she surrendered to her drowsiness and fell asleep.

Unseen by her or anyone else, the brightness of the Plavsky Particles within the cockpit slowly grew in intensity until it would have blinded any who looked upon it...

* * *

~ Earth's Orbit, Archangel, Captain's Cabin ~

Near Earth's orbit, the Archangel flared its thrusters as it took up position beside the Menelaus-class flagship of the Alliance 8th Fleet. Once the white prototype vessel found its place within the protection of the fleet, the battle group activated their respective engines began to make their way to the proper orbital coordinates. To an observer with a telescope on Earth it looked like a meteor shower

"I am truly pleased that this ship and you have survived." Admiral Halberton said to the group in a fatherly tone as he sat down behind the captain's desk. However, it was fairly obvious to those present who much of this relief was aimed at. Murrue Ramius, who shared much of the admiral's philosophy as well as being a former student of his, snapped off a salute that Natarle Badgiruel would have approved of. Beside her, Natarle and Mu did the same.

There was one present who did not salute though, Vice-Foreign Minister Allster. Flay's father, who had originally insisted on staying aboard the Archangel to be with his daughter, now insisted that he be a part of the discussion among the officers. Thankfully, Murrue had already sent a report and anything they would discuss here would mainly be for clarification purposes.

"Indeed," Captain Hoffman, the admiral's aide and friend, agreed, "To think that they would destroy a colony and go through all this trouble for one prototype mobile suit."

"That just shows how valuable this technology is, sir." Murrue said, "It was more than an attempt at asset denial, the G-weapons once completed surpass ZAFT's GINN and CGUE in every aspect."

"Unfortunately, the officers at Alaska do not share that opinion." Captain Hoffman said with a hint of irritation.

"Bah! What do they know of combat in space?!" Admiral Halberton said, equally annoyed by military politics, "Once we get this technology there, they'd have to be idiots to overlook it merits!"

"Speaking of completed weapons..." The balding officer said, changing the topic, "What are we going to do about the pilot of the Strike or that other machine?"

He let the question hang in the air. The three de facto officers of the Archangel looked at each other. While it was two against one in favor of letting Kira Yamato go, Natarle was stubborn and could present a pretty good argument.

"I'm more concerned about the Martian girl." George Allster who had been quiet up until this point finally spoke, "She seems to be pretty far from home and too skilled a pilot to be a mere 'guard'."

"What are you saying Vice-Minister?" The admiral asked. He had read the reports and the red haired girl was (almost) singly responsible for the recapture of the Aegis. Reviewed footage showed that she did indeed possess excellent piloting skills that surpassed those of regular ZAFT pilots who, up until this point, dominated space engagements between the two warring sides. In fact, she had quickly caught with the _Hawk of Endymion's_ kill score within a few days.

"She made mention that she was delivering supplies to Heliopolis when her ship was attacked," the Vice-Foreign Minister began, "It just seems a bit too convenient. I believe that she's a spy sent by the Martian coordinators!"

Murrue narrowed her eyes although internally she was dumbstruck. Could this man not overlook his prejudice just once and show an ounce of gratitude? He'd be dead twice over (including his daughter) were it not for the intervention of Melanthos.

"And what makes you say that sir?" Captain Hoffman asked.

"Its obvious!" George replied, "She appeared with an unknown mobile suit possessing beam technology similar to our own! The Martian colonists must be sending scouts to check on the political situation as well as testing out their own mobile suit designs!"

Murrue struggled not to roll her eyes. Except for the espionage accusation, which was the only plausible thing George Allster said, everything else was a mixture of paranoia, prejudice along with a liberal sprinkling of ignorance of military operations. As an officer the theory was a lot harder to swallow than leftover fruit cake. And this man was a diplomat?

"I highly doubt that," the admiral said, "There are better ways to test out mobile suits in secret or obtain information. The Martian Frontier is as far as it can get. It takes at least nine months for a conventional ship to reach them. Its probably as the report says, she's just looking for a ride home."

"But why this ship?" George Allster pressed, "Why not ZAFT? I would like to think that coordinators would be friendlier towards their own kind."

"Probably because she was carrying materials for Orb," Murrue spoke up, unable to remain silent anymore, "Who in turn was assisting us in secretly developing the G-Weapons. ZAFT controls most of the space lanes now. If they were to ask this same line of questions it could lead to hostility between the two sides. ZAFT and the PLANTs are much better situated to waging a space war on the Martian Colonies rather than the Alliance."

"It could also lead to awkward questions about Orb's development of their own mobile suits." Admiral Halberton said, "They highly value their neutrality and independence after all, I'd imagine the Martian Colonies to be the same."

"Sir?" Murrue turned to face her mentor, "Then those unmarked shipments..."

"Were used for their own weapons development." Captain Hoffman finished smugly, "Did you really think Orb would help us for free? Thankfully the silver lining of this little debacle, other than your survival of course, is that _Heliopolis_ was the assembly and test site for them as well. Even if they were to recover their data by then the Archangel would have long arrived in Alaska and their setback could cost them months."

The balding captain coughed. "Now if I could bring us back to the question I posed earlier?"

Seeing that no one jumped to support him George Allster backed down with an annoyed look on his face.

"Sir!" Murrue said, heading off Natarle who had begun to open her mouth, "It was thanks to his abilities that we have survived up to this point. Over these past few days Kira Yamato has been forced to endure things that no teenager should have to and has suffered greatly from having to fight against his own people. I believe that, together with miss Melanthos, we should show our gratitude by trusting them and letting them go."

"I disagree!" Natarle stepped forward as well.

 _Goddamn it!_

"His skills at piloting and programming are quite exceptional." the raven haired officer explained a bit forcefully, "If we were to draft him, his skills could prove to be useful in the long run."

"Hmm...now that you mentioned him, the background information we dug up revealed that his parents are naturals," Captain Hoffman mused, "Perhaps if we bring them under the military's protection..."

"But those reports also say he has no intention of joining the military," Admiral Halberton interrupted, "whether its ours or Orb's. And its not like we can apply the same kind of pressure on the girl, knowing so little about her."

"But sir!" Natarle made for another argument before she was cut-off by Halberton slamming his palm on the desk. The purple eyed officer bowed apologetically and backed up hastily to the relevant safety of her fellow junior officers.

"What good is having someone who doesn't want to fight?!" He asked in a raised voice, "One person cannot alter the course of war, no matter how gifted."

"But what about two?" Captain Hoffman said unperturbed, clearly used to the Admiral's demeanor. The portly officer let another picture drift in view of everyone. It was a picture of the X2A Kai.

"This technology is quite intriguing."

"Intriguing but nothing special." Halberton spared the photo a glance, "From what I read it doesn't even use phase shift armor. Beam weaponry was bound to be mass produced in time and it doesn't take a genius to note that more thrusters mean better maneuverability."

"Its also a bit short." he added jokingly, "If they don't wish to join us that's the last I'll hear of this."

* * *

~ _Vesalius_ , Bridge ~

"The legged ship has rendezvoused with the Alliance 8th Fleet," Captain Ades reported as Rau floated above the tactical board, "Fortunately we have received two additional Laurasia ships as reinforcements aside from supplies."

Rau stared at the images and the data before him. If one included the task force he had been given command of after recovering Lacus Clyne, the ZAFT task group comprised a total fighting force of five ships and its entire mobile suit contingent. Funny how a report that a single mysterious mobile suit helped save the Junius 7 representative could get headquarters riled up.

The Gamow was supposed to be technically out of the fight due to the damage it received but it would be too dangerous to simply send it back this far from friendly space and so it was relegated to rear guard duty as the sixth ship.

On the other side of the display was the projected course of the Alliance vessels. The 8th Fleet was famous for being the only Alliance fleet that managed to come out strategically and tactically on top with any engagements with ZAFT and its mobile suits. However, those battles were engagements with the 8th facing the ZAFT standard of two ships at a time, not five. Numbers which not even coordinators could win against despite their genetic enhancements.

This time, however, was different. The gap would be closed due to the reinforcements. The troops were fresh and well supplied, not counting the _Gamow_. The G-weapons, though diminished in number due to Yzak's injury, would also be a major factor in their favor.

"The infamous Admiral Halberton," Rau whispered with a grim smile, "Its time for you to exit the stage."

* * *

~ Archangel Hanger ~

Aya woke with a start. Her head darted around frantically before realizing where she was.

"Must have dozed off." She mumbled sleepily as she disconnected the safety harness. She floated off the linear seat in the darkened cockpit and tilted her head to the side. A relieving crack was heard which caused her to slightly to the side.

"Hope I don't get a stiff neck otherwise I'm gonna feel that in the morning," Aya muttered as she righted herself and checked her GP Base, "Oh, wait. It _is_ morning..."

She plugged the base into its port and started the secondary systems. The screens powered up and revealed a dimly lit hanger. Across the X2A, she saw Kira Yamato on top of the Strike's chest and a blonde officer departing. Aya's eyes widened when she realized it must have been Admiral Halberton.

Secretly Aya was thankful that she fell asleep. Her earlier encounter with Chief Engineer Murdock made her realize that she _had_ to avoid any questions about her origins or her mobile suit. So far the Archangel crew had swallowed her story hook line and sinker, and thats how she would like it to be kept. Once she was sure the admiral had left she powered down the secondary systems and opened the hatch of the mobile suit.

"When did I stop thinking about it as my Gunpla?" Aya thought as she floated out. Up until that point she had always thought of it as her Gunpla.

"Oh hey! I didn't realize you were in your mobile suit." Came a voice.

Aya looked up to see Kira Yamato.

Mental Note: Always close and lock the hatch of the X2A.

The redhead noticed that he hadn't left his spot when she last saw him. Which meant that he was probably brooding. Again.

"I fell asleep after doing some...system maintenance." Aya said truthfully.

"I know what you mean," Kira agreed, "Its not as easy as it looks. By the way the Alliance said they have some papers for us which would technically absolve us of participating in any of the battles. We should pick them up."

Aya slowly digested this information. With Flay alive and having no reason to guilt-trip Kira, he in turn would have no reason to stay on board. Shit. She really screwed up there. Though in her defense, she didn't know she'd get stuck in this universe.

"Well, its a long drift to the hanger," Aya thought, "I'll have to think of something by then."

"Wait...the impending ZAFT attack on the fleet." She realized while hovering in place.

Kira's eyes darted around nervously.

"Uh, you're smiling..." He ventured.

"Yes." Aya automatically answered. Was she?

"Why?" Kira asked worriedly.

"Oh...nothing." Aya said coyly.

* * *

~ Archangel Hanger, Kira Yamato ~

Kira reached the loading hanger where the transport shuttle was docked. There was already a long line of civilians waiting to board it but the young coordinator couldn't see who he was looking for in the first place.

"Hey, Kira!" Sai called, "Over here!"

He turned upon hearing his name to see his friends approach him with papers in hand.

"Here." Tolle said placing a document in his hands, "They're discharge papers."

"Discharge papers?" Kira wondered looking at the paper in his hands.

"Yeah," Sai confirmed, "There's no such thing as a civilian volunteer in the Alliance so they just went up and made us recruits and then discharged us at the same time. Its all legal, apparently."

Kira scanned the document quickly and so far there seemed to be no loopholes other than veiled _and_ expressed threats about what would happen if the bearer revealed "Confidential" information. Which, he supposed, was everything he saw since there were no documents attached that defined what was "confidential."

"Huh." He thought, "Well, a win is a win I suppose."

Kira looked over to Aya, who up until this point remained silent as she observed the happenings.

"Here, there's one for you too." Sai added, handing Aya a document, "The admiral's aide said that you'll have to disembark before the ship reaches Alaska, with or without your mobile suit."

The reddish-orange haired pilot took the paper and also gave it a quick scan.

"Let me see yours." She said while taking hold of Kira's paper.

Fearing that resistance would tear it, Kira let go of his discharge paper reluctantly. Aya gave the paper the same quick scan and nodded as if confirming something to herself.

Then she neatly tore the document in half.

Everyone's mouths dropped in surprise (and horror). A few seconds passed before Kira lost it.

"ARE YOU INSANE?!" He yelled, "WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!"

"No." She responded, "It would not do well to be caught in the battle."

"Huh?" Kuzzy was surprised, "What do you mean battle?"

"Who said anything about a battle?!" Came a voice.

The group turned to see the Allsters approaching them, being led by George and Flay dutifully following behind.

"Oh! Its nothing sir!" Kuzzy quickly said, "I probably just mishea-"

"There is a high chance that this ship and its escorts will be attacked before it reaches its destination." Aya said, completely ignoring Kuzzy's cover up attempt, "Its best to stay here until it is over and disembark when the ship reaches the atmosphere."

"Attack us?!" George Allster's eyes were wide in disbelief, "But we're in the middle of Alliance territory and protected by a fleet!"

"ZAFT controls most of the space lanes by now," Aya rebutted, "As I keep mentioning, they seem to be strangely obsessed with destroying this ship."

"Well we're going down to Earth as civilians," Flay said, finding her courage, "If there's going to be a battle its all the more reason not to stay here!"

"In _that_?" Aya gestured towards the waiting shuttle derisively, "That thing's a death trap. Not only does it look like a military shuttle, because it is, that thing's design won't even allow any evasive maneuvers in the atmosphere."

"Furthermore," She added, "If you were the enemy, would you miss out on an opportunity to take out fleeing officers? How would they know you are civilians if you're riding a military shuttle?"

The group still looked unconvinced and shifted their gazes around.

Aya took a step forward and placed her hand on Flay's shoulder. The latter visibly flinched and shut her eyes as if something bad was going to happen.

"Accidents occur on the battlefield all the time," Aya said conspirationally, "And with all that chaos happening out there, well, who's going to come to the aid of a _lone_ shuttle and expose their back?"

"We...we're leaving right now! Before ZAFT gets here!" Flay said, pushing away Aya's hand, "Who's going to stop us?"

The klaxons blared, and the lights dimmed to a blood red. An officer confirmed their worst fears as he reported _six_ ZAFT vessels approaching the 8th fleet on an intercept course.

"Them." Aya pointed to the ceiling.

She turned to leave.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Sai asked.

"To my mobile suit," She replied, "Explosive decompression is _nobody's_ friend."

"I suggest you guys find shelter as well," Aya addressed the entire group, "With the ship severely undermanned, its chances of survival has decreased."

When she left, Flay turned to convince her friends to board the shuttle but instead found them bent over in exhaustion. She could swear that there were little vertical lines over their heads.

"Did...she just guilt-trip us into helping out again?" Sai asked weakly.

"Don't talk to me right now." Kira muttered darkly.

* * *

~ Archangel, bridge ~

Murrue cursed as she secured her safety harness.

 _Why now of all times?!_

"Transmission from the _Menelaus_." An officer reported.

Admiral Halberton's face appeared on screen.

"Lieutenant, ZAFT is approaching and it looks like they're hellbent on sinking that ship," the admiral said in a serious voice, "Proceed to the reentry coordinates, we'll cover you on your way down."

"But admiral!" Murrue protested, "We can't just-"

"I GAVE YOU AN ORDER LIEUTENANT!" Halberton roared, "CARRY IT OUT!"

"Yes, sir." Murrue saluted weakly.

The commander smiled warmly at his former pupil as he returned the salute.

"May fortune smile upon you." Admiral Halberton said in a fatherly voice before cutting the transmission.

* * *

Author's note:

And I'm back! Sorry for the delay, as well as this short chapter which is under 4k words excluding this note. The next one's going to be a big fight and I've already planned it in advance, but for now the paper tearing thing is the only action I've got for this chapter. Aside from a jarring transition of talk to battle for the reader (in my opinion), I'm posting this because I wanted to show that I'm still alive and kicking.

So...anybody notice any changes in the story yet?

The "mysterious shipment" Murrue keeps mentioning, and now Admiral Halberton is indeed the Astray project as some may have already guessed. Of course, they got it wrong that the main character was actually on the way to deliver parts or resources. They simply filled in the gaps by themselves. It would make sense that the Alliance would at least get wind of it, because aside from the reasons mentioned above, no matter how corrupt or incompetent the Federation analogs are, I don't think they're the kind to simply sit and twiddle their thumbs. I mean, they were on the same colony for goodness' sake!

Something not clear? Ask away.

Until next time!


	6. Chapter 6: The Blazing Shadow

**I do not own Gundam Build Fighters/Try or any of the Gundam franchise.**

 **Any references, intentional or not, belong to their respective franchises.**

 **This story is inspired by Eyes in SEED authored by Nemesis Astrea and is written with his permission.**

* * *

CHAPTER 6:

The Blazing Shadow

~ _Vesalius_ , Two hours ago ~

"Our top priority is the legged ship." Le Creuset reminded his fellow commanders over the screens, "All other concerns are secondary."

Though ZAFT task groups typically operated independently, they could be called together for a single operation when they needed the numbers. It was a situation that both demonstrated the strengths and weaknesses Coordinators had over Naturals. Against slightly larger odds they could prevail. However, they neither had the numbers nor the resources to win a traditional decisive large scale battle which was why the PLANT Supreme Council, and commanders by extension, opted for small scale engagements from a position of strength.

However situations such as the one playing out did happen and for this occasion high command deemed it necessary to commit the men and material for the effort. And just so happened that a certain masked commander's reputation as a formidable leader was on site to handle the operation.

"Our mobile suit teams will drive a wedge through the 8th Fleet," Le Creuset traced the projected movements on the holomap, "Once past the ships, a third of the mobile suits will remain behind to block enemy reinforcements. Red team and Gold team, as well as the three remaining G-weapons, will deal with the legged ship. Our job will be to ensure that the wedge does not close on our units."

Athrun perked up at the mention of the G-Weapons. He'd heard that Yzak was injured, but seemed to be well enough to participate. While the loss of the Aegis still stung, considering what the exchange was, there was no doubt that he'd pay for it again all the same.

"With regards to the enemy's hitherto black G-Weapon," Le Creuset continued, "Battlefield analysis indicates the enemy pilot prefers close range combat, therefore advise your pilots not to close in under any circumstances as all such encounters to date are considered critical tactical errors."

Images of the X2A Kai in combat cycled through the screen as if to emphasize this point.

"Well then, that is all." The commanders saluted each other and cut the link, "Thank you for waiting Athrun."

Athrun snapped himself out from his thoughts. He really needed to stop brooding during his duty hours.

"Not at all commander!" He said. Le Creuset guided him to the elevator and the young coordinator followed.

"I take it you know how important this mission is for the PLANTS?" the blonde asked.

"Yes sir." Athrun answered. Was there a point to this? Other than the fact that he told Le Creuset about knowing Kira, it could also be the fact that he was the only pilot alive under Le Creuset's command aboard the Vesalius.

"We've been hounding that ship for quite sometime," Le Creuset continued thoughtfully, "Despite its lack of supplies and having only one mobile suit in its hanger, its proven quite resilient. I'll admit after a while I was hoping to be content with just the Strike's destruction. If they mass produced it even with just a beam weapon and a shield it could mean the end of ZAFT and the PLANTS."

Athrun didn't bother to answer. Despite mobile suits being developed by the PLANTS, the Alliance had developed weaponry with superior designs in under a year. What made such an event terrifying from a military commander's perspective was that the Alliance had the resources to manufacture mobile suits en masse with similar characteristics and while the Supreme Council had adopted a slow methodical approach to the war.

The pair drifted into the hanger. Some parts of the ship still bore evidence from the black mobile suit's attack. Thankfully, the damage wasn't crippling and the hanger remained mostly operational.

"At least try to keep the Strike busy while the others bring down the ship." Rau placed a hand on Athrun before returning to the elevator.

The blue haired teen looked up at his machine and couldn't help but smile. He didn't know what strings Lacus pulled to get him this unit but Athrun was grateful all the same. There weren't that many High Maneuver GINNs around and to his knowledge, none of them were painted red.

* * *

~ Space, High Orbit ~

Numerous lights flashed from two points in space. To an observer the streaks seemed to move lazily, visible to the eye and easy to avoid. But it was a deception. Beam shots and rail gun rounds tore into the lead mobile suits and mobile armors, killing their victims before they could react. The missiles followed shortly after and it was here where the ever shifting winds of war could be best seen.

ZAFT Mobile Suits veered in several directions while simultaneously shooting any missile within weapon range. Those that made it past the mobile suit squadrons were intercepted by their parent ships' point defense systems. GINNs carrying heavy armaments opened up, sending rocket and beam shots towards the enemy fleet. However, on the Alliance's side it was different.

Mobile Armor squadrons avoided the enemy barrage and entrusted the defense of the cruisers to the frigates and the destroyers as they raced towards the mobile suits, attempting to take advantage of the temporary break of formation. They fired their rail guns first, their most powerful weapon effective at the current range. The moebius pilots were trained to time their shots as the weapon's charge time was notoriously slow. Missiles would only meet the same fate as those sent ahead by the warships.

Once initial blasts subsided the battle began in earnest. Entire moebius groups swerved and pounced on lone GINNs overwhelming them with volumes of fire, their maneuvers reminiscent of atmospheric aircraft. On the other hand, mobile suit pilots methodically picked off perceived squad leaders and used the temporary confusion to wipe out entire groups. When their enemies threatened to fly past GINNs slashed outward with their swords or simply shot them as the craft flew past.

The battle had begun.

* * *

~ Menelaus, Bridge ~

"The Ajax is out of action and requesting..."

"The Protesilaus has been sunk! Sestus is moving in to fill the breach!"

"Abydos reporting heavy damage..."

"Put us in front of the Atreus!"

"How can this be?!" Captain Hoffman muttered under his breath, "A tenth of the fleet gone in a few minutes..."

Only Admiral Halberton, who hadn't worn helmet in time heard his XO's surprise. Under normal circumstances a man in his position would have rebuked Hoffman for that demoralizing remark, but these were not normal circumstances. More importantly, Duane Halberton was confident and proud of his soldiers and officers. They would see the day through. However...

He glanced at the transmitted reports. Though it was just raw data it was clear to any onlooker that they were taking a beating.

A bright flash erupted on the starboard side heralding the death of another ship.

"Transmission from the Archangel!" Murrue Ramius' face appeared on the screen, her soft features grim.

"Admiral," the de facto captain began, "Requesting permission to break away from the fleet and proceed with reentry maneuvers."

"But that will leave you vulnerable for a few minutes!" Hoffman said, while Halberton remained quiet.

"And if we stay here," Murrue responded, "the 8th Fleet will be destroyed." She said the last part cautiously, almost as if it was a heretical statement.

Again, Admiral Halberton said nothing as he looked at the data on the side screen, watching the numbers that represented his troops.

"Sir! Please!" Murrue pleaded this time.

"You're very reckless aren't you Lieutenant?" Halberton finally said.

"I take after my instructor, sir." Murrue smiled.

"Very well," Admiral Halberton said, "Permission granted, relay new orders. The fleet is cover the Archangel. We will leave the combat area as soon as they reenter orbit."

"Thank you sir!"

* * *

~ Space, Athrun Zala ~

Another Drake-Class ship exploded as Athrun Zala, together with the rest of Red Team and Gold Team, continued to move deep into the enemy formation. Unlike earlier battles though they paying for every metaphorical step they took towards their objective. The Alliance 8th fleet was a cut above the ordinary Alliance troop. Were they piloting mobile suits Athrun had no doubt both teams would have been wiped out by now.

The GINN to his left fired a burst at a passing Moebius and began to reorient his machine towards the target when he missed.

"Stay close Ken," Athrun transmitted.

"Uh, yes sir!" The pilot replied.

"I'm not a sir," Athrun replied with a smile, "I volunteered, just like you. If you follow that target you'll get isolated and swarmed."

The young pilot was a last minute addition to Red Team. Originally he was just fresh out of training and assigned to guard the supply ships, however, Commander Le Creuset ordered everyone capable of piloting a mobile suit out to sink the legged ship. And he meant every one. As a result the mobile suit squadrons gained a total of eight additional mobile suits, or two squadron's worth and were distributed evenly among the more experienced teams.

"Is that it?" Ken wondered aloud.

Athrun zoomed in and saw that the legged ship flanked by four destroyers and a Menelaus class ship. Nicole, Dearka and Yzak were steadily making their way to it as well and the enemy mobile armors were focusing their fire on them. Though no match for the stolen G-Weapons they still managed to slow them down considerably. Athrun estimated that they were probably down to 60% power at best.

"Yes, that's it." Athrun confirmed. Thankfully he saw no sign of the Strike, but that could change any moment.

"Alright, cut the chatter." Red Leader instructed, "You know what to do, provide cover for Gold Team and the G-Weapons."

A chorus of affirmatives rang out and the GINNs spread out to avoid the curtain of anti-air fire that erupted from the escort ships.

Red Team had at last locked horns with enemy command group.

A GINN fired its Barrus Kai ion cannon at a destroyer, disintegrating its rear section. Despite the grievous injury the ship remained stubbornly in place and continued to fire is guns and missiles at the approaching teams.

Sensing the danger of the Canus armed GINNs to the ships, as well as the limited ammunition they carried, Moebius mobile armors targeted them first and succeeded in destroying one. In his death throes, the pilot of the GINN managed to release all four missiles of the D-type weapon which impacted on a ship, knocking it out of the fight. Following the death of their comrade, the other GINNs with the same configuration utilized the small missiles on their weapons for defense rather than saving everything for the legged ship as originally planned.

Athrun dodged to the left and blasted a passing mobile armor with a burst from his machine gun. He then turned just in time to riddle another opponent who sought to take advantage of the sacrifice his comrade had made. The blue haired teen smiled. The High Maneuver GINN was very much comparable to the performance of the G-Weapons. Though a little bit slower and less heavily armed it wasn't too bad of a unit.

Spying a moebius group making a beeline for the Duel, Buster and Blitz, he accelerated towards them. He fired at the lead mobile armor, engulfing the rear machines with an explosion and fired once again into the group, downing two units in the process. The Buster and the Blitz whirled around and fired on their pursuers, destroying them in short order. The Duel, Yzak, didn't seem to care and continued onwards, destroying only targets in front of him.

"Sorry I'm late." Athrun said, linking communications with his original team.

"Athrun?" Nicole asked, sounding pleasantly surprised, "Nice ride!"

"Thanks," Athrun chuckled, "Its not too bad, but I miss the Aegis. Is something wrong with Yzak's communications?"

"I don't think we should talk to him right now," Dearka said. He flicked a switch somewhere and Athrun could hear an almost animalistic growl.

"Where is it!? Where is he?! WHERE IS THE BLACK MOBILE SUIT?!"

"He's been in a far away place ever since he got injured in the previous battle," Nicole said. It sounded like he had rolled his eyes.

"Is he...?"

"Nope, no brain damage," Dearka said casually, "It should blow over after we destroy legged ship and that mobile suit. You guys clearly haven't been around him as long as I have."

"Oh, well that's good to hear." Athrun said sounding both relieved and amused.

Then their comms crackled.

"This Gold Team, we've reached the objective. Be advised, one of the legged ship's catapult's are opening!"

The group turned their eyes towards the white ship that had broken away from the command group.

There was a blue flash from the bow of the legged ship and the comms once more burst into life.

"What was that?!"

"Gold 3 is lost!"

"Track it!"

"Can't...its too fast! Argghh!"

"Gold 4 is gone! Dam-"

The three reds gripped their controls controls tightly as they watched the friendly signatures wink out one by one.

"Two additional heat sources detected, they're mobile sui-kkkkkkkkkkk..."

"Gold Leader requesting back up!"

"This is Red Leader, copy. Moving in to assist."

"Be warned, the enemy prefers to close in before-kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk..."

Upon hearing the one responsible for the latest carnage the Duel turned from the direction of the Archangel and headed towards the source.

"THERE YOU ARE!" Yzak roared.

* * *

~ Space, Crossbone X2A Kai ~

The Crossbone X2A Kai blasted outwards and into the void of space as soon as the catapult hatch opened. In the cockpit Aya once more savored the feeling of being in space. Despite her life being in very real danger, the weight seemed to vanish once she stepped out into the starry blackness. While most people would feel intimidated by the emptiness of space, just like the open sea on Earth, it simply felt welcoming to her. It felt right.

She veered to the right towards a surprised GINN carrying four bulky anti-ship missiles. Before it could raise its weapons Aya fired near point blank and continued to accelerate as it exploded.

"Hey, Aya! Don't go too far!" Mu yelled over the comm, "We're supposed to defend the ship!"

The other GINNs released all their leg mounted M68 Pardus missiles simultaneously at the new threat.

The X2A Kai flew in a graceful arc over a Drake-Class ship using its form and anti-air barrage to thin out the pursuing missiles while outflying the rest that survived. It emerged from underneath the ship like a vengeful spirit and shot two more GINNs as it rocketed past, leaving their cherry colored explosions behind.

"Exactly!" She responded a bit too giddily which caused Kira to shudder on the other screen, "What better way to defend the ship than disrupt their formations? We shouldn't let them dictate the pace of the battle."

"Just keep in mind we don't have a very large window," Mu warned, uncharacteristically serious, "Unless you want to get left behind here in space or burn up in the atmosphere."

The thought to remain in space tempted Aya, but she stifled her emotions. She had to get out of this Plavsky nightmare, which meant going to Earth.

"Of course, I wouldn't want to be left behind." she said cheerily.

The two pilots gave her skeptical looks before focusing on their own tasks.

The X2A flew into the melee where the ZAFT GINNs and Alliance Moebius' fought a life or death struggle. The black mobile suit halted over a GINN and executed a drop kick. The heat blade stabbed outwards and sheared off the connector of the GINN's thruster causing it to spiral out of control and become easy prey for the vengeful mobile armor pilots.

Another GINN fired from behind, thinking it had the advantage but Aya's Plavsky Particle-given Newtype abilities warned her well in advance and she jinked to the side, snapping off a shot from the buster gun before her turn even ended. The X2A turned once more towards an approaching GINN that was firing its machine gun at full auto. In response, the X2A fired its shoulder mounted beam vulcans which were originally the stored beam sabers. Despite its low output, the beam tore through the untreated Cosmic Era armor and shredded the mobile suit's torso. The ruined husk sped onward, seemingly heedless of its pilot's death. However, the black mobile never seemed to stop moving. It fired another shot into the chaotic battle and another mobile suit died. Aya only halted her rampage when several emerald lances shot over the X2A. Looking at both sides, Aya saw that the Alliance fleet was divided while two sharp teal-colored ships and four green vessels advanced into the wedge.

The ZAFT task force had broken through.

* * *

~ Space, ZAFT mobile suits ~

Athrun's High Maneuver GINN had finally caught up with the black mobile suit which had halted in front of the two advancing Nazca class ships which were each flanked by two Laurasia class ships. The ZAFT group, as planned, had divided the Alliance fleet and was now beginning to fire a barrage on its command group.

"We have to stop it," Athrun thought. While Gold team was initially supposed to be responsible for the legged ship's destruction, they were wiped out and if Red team were to attempt to do so their backs would be exposed and no doubt meet a similar fate. Even the stolen G-weapons, for all their power couldn't sink that cursed ship. And that was before the mysterious coordinator of the black G-weapon appeared.

Their best shot would now be for the ZAFT ships to focus fire on the legged ship. There, it would have only its armor to rely on and it surely couldn't survive against an entire fleet firing on it no matter how advanced its defenses were.

"WAAAAAAAGH!"

A bazooka round aimed at the unknown unit in front of him shot past uncomfortably close from Athrun's mobile suit. A blue and white blur streaked by Athrun, though he didn't need to guess who it was. Yzak had at last found the source of his humiliation.

The Duel though, was significantly different from before. Whereas it merely carried a basic and conservative loadout from before it was now almost unrecognizable. Merged with ZAFT's experimental Assault Shroud Armor, the Duel now carried additional armor, thrusters, linear cannon and a micro missile rack on the shoulders. Even its shield mounted a disposable missile launcher. It also hefted the massive bazooka under its arm that the Le Creuset team found floating in the wreckage of Heliopolis.

Whether or not it was intentional, the black mobile suit dramatically turned towards the approaching round and slowly rotated in place just before the round connected. Rather than utilize wasteful maneuvers in dodging the projectile it had simply used the minimum amount of movement to avoid it.

"You think this is a game?!" Yzak yelled over the comms. Athrun was surprised his throat wasn't ragged from screaming by now but he had more important things to worry about.

"What do we do sir?" Athrun asked over the comm.

"Protect the ships," Red leader answered, "We don't have to worry about the mobile armors and their parent vessels for now."

By now the Red team and the G-weapons had caught up. They began to spread out to engage the unknown enemy as well as to avoid firing on the direction of the allied ships. The Duel led the charge by firing all of its weapon at once.

This time Aya, Athrun just remembered her name, seemed to realize the danger she was in. She activated her mobile suit's large thrusters and headed towards the two Nazca ships.

"Got you!" Dearka fired a shot from his Gunlauncher.

The black mobile suit dodged and, once again displaying preternatural awareness, jinked to the side to avoid a follow up shot from Red leader's Barrus ion cannon. It rolled and fired a blast from its archaic looking beam weapon which caught Athrun's squadron leader square in the chest. The GINN erupted into a fireball shortly afterwards. Athrun thought he saw the mobile suit's leg fly past.

The blue haired teen fired a stream of AP rounds at the enemy while simultaneously contacting the Vesalius.

"Commander, what do we do now?" The question, though crudely phrased, was clear enough.

Though a volunteer force by nature, ZAFT had its own command structure, for no militant force could survive long without it. However, large scale operations such as this tended to muddle the command structure for a group that was only formed recently and whose units were used to operating independently. There was also the unspoken hubris among the top military officials that the Alliance could not match their pilots ability-wise or technologically with their mobile suits. In fact, the ZAFT training regimen had never taken into account mobile suit versus mobile suit combat. It had focused primarily on tactics to counter swarms of mobile armor and to attack ships up close.

"Athrun Zala," Rau Le Creuset's unreadable face appeared on screen, "You are in command now."

* * *

~ Space, X2A Kai, Aya ~

Aya's head was pounding. The battle had began normally enough, with the GINNs no match for the Crossbone Gundam. After all it was late Universal Century technology versus first generation machines. However, as the battle continued she began to feel uneasy and the problem only worsened as time passed. Soon the unease became a dull pain which rose in intensity and became almost unbearable. It had gotten so bad that it almost cost Aya her life.

 _"Bastard!"_

Aya felt a sharp prick of pain behind long before she had heard the voice. She'd been hearing a lot of those too lately.

She adjusted the X2A's orientation slowly. Much too slowly.

Only the suit's small frame allowed it to dodge the bazooka round aimed at her. Her eye twitched, the ZAFT mobile suits had caught up with her.

She recognized the Duel leading the pack. So much like Gunpla battlers, Yzak fired all of his weapons at once. Just as Aya had come to expect "lines" appeared in her vision but they were much more faded. However, she had felt a new surge of pain and unease. It was almost like her subconscious was warning her that she about to get run over and what the result would be while she stared dumbly at the approaching vehicle.

Mentally shaking aside the feelings, she pushed the X2 "above" the approaching group. Aya dodged a shot that came from the Buster and dashed briefly to the side to avoid a follow up shot by a GINN wielding a beam cannon. Tucking the X2 into a roll, she fired a shot at the last aggressor sending it to oblivion.

She turned her head and was surprised to see the ZAFT fleet almost in front of her, firing their cannons at the command group which was shielding the retreating Archangel.

"Can't let that happen." She thought, "If Char can sink five, I can manage at least one."

The reference amused Aya and helped lighten her mood.

The X2A flew towards the enemy ships which, by now, had opened fire with its anti-air guns.

The enemy mobile suits opened fire on her but she dodged each blast with sharp turns that amazed even her attackers. The Crossbone Gundam, with its black coloration, appeared as a shadow zig-zagging through the torrent of fire. The only indication that it was there was because of the thrusters leaving a faint blue trail behind the mobile suit.

Aya stopped above a ship, and deployed the massive beam launcher the X2 stored on its rear skirt. Unlike the standard HGUC model, it was held in place by a sub-arm to facilitate a smooth transition in combat. With a practiced motion, Aya stored the buster gun and heaved the massive weapon with the other. A warning sound beeped, which was a few seconds too late from the now familiar (and still painful) warning she had become accustomed to. Two of the four large thrusters flared, turning the Crossbone in place like a ballet dancer. Aya slammed the X2's forearm on the back of the GINN that had tried to impale her with its sword and, unseen by anyone, activated the beam brand which drilled through the cockpit.

She completed the turn and grasped the second handle on the beam launcher and targeted the approaching Nazca class ship's "nose". With a thin smile on her face Aya fired the weapon.

The shot tore through the ship's superstructure and immediately resulted in a spectacular explosion, disabling the ship. A second shot, this time impacting on the central area sealed its fate. The ship's explosive death forced its companion to veer away to avoid any ambient heat and ship sized shrapnel.

The X2 dashed toward a Laurasia class ship, flying on a seemingly suicidal maneuver towards its main gun. The turret fired at its would be victim but found only the void as the X2 veered sharply upwards, but not before loosing a shot at the ship's center mass. Another ship died as the black Crossbone Gundam turned and flew away towards the third ship of the line.

Before she could reach her target, Aya suddenly turned upon feeling hostile intent and found the Duel about bring it's sword down on a bisecting chop. Unfortunately, the move brought the beam launcher in the path of the beam saber and was split in half as a result. The sub-arm released the ruined weapon as the X2A maneuvered back from a follow up slash.

"You SHIT!" Aya screeched, "That was an online exclusive that ceased production!"

Another pain flare and the X2 swiveled and extended its arm in a blocking motion. Though a seemingly senseless move, half a second later the Trikeros shield shimmered into view. Aya pushed the weapon, with its beam saber still activated, upwards right before Nicol loosed a shot by reflex. In response, the X2 held on to the arm and deployed its beam brand on the other.

"Back off piano boy!" Aya growled.

The Blitz struggled to break free but its weakness was that all of its weapons were stored on the Trikeros, and the Gliepnir claw was destroyed in an earlier encounter. The stealth mobile suit barely managed to dodge the beam tipped punch of the X2 by twisting its body. Its front armor melted from the passing beam while the entire right arm was sheared off by the unexpected weapon, but the X2 wasn't done yet. In a vicious move it kicked the literally disarmed Blitz away and took aim with its Buster gun.

 _"I won't let you!"_ came a phantom voice in Aya's head. She fired anyway.

The beam hit the Blitz on the center of its head, turning it into slag.

"A red mobile suit?" Aya exclaimed, "That wasn't in the show."

Almost as in response, the red High Maneuver GINN raised a bazooka it held under its arm as it fired its machinegun on the other.

Aya looked around to see the other GINNs, Buster and even the Duel hesitating since she was still too close to the ruined Blitz.

"Its getting too busy." She thought. Seeing the Duel, however, gave her an idea.

Aya accelerated and fired a potshot at the Duel, which enraged Yzak. The other mobile suits gave chase as the Crossbone X2 headed for the Archangel. Arriving well ahead of the pursuing enemies, she saw that the Aegis, now piloted by Mu taking up position near the bridge and firing at any enemies that came in too close. Being new as a mobile suit pilot, the Lieutenant didn't perform any complicated maneuvers and instead focused on basic evasive moves and well placed shots. What really surprised her, however, was the Strike. Unlike the show, the unit now equipped both the Sword and Launcher packs rather than the Aile pack. The shots fired by the Strike themselves were more measured and less frantic. Overall, the two mobile suits worked well together and created a strong defense for the Archangel which looked ready to reenter the atmosphere.

"Have fun!" the redhead said gleefully at she deliberately streaked past the Strike, putting it directly in front of the Duel. Aya remembered clearly that the Duel would hunt the Strike for a majority of the series and the ensuing melee would give her some breathing room, however...

The Duel barreled past the Strike, practically elbowing it out of the way as it fired its beam rifle and linear cannon at the X2.

"You idiot!" Aya exclaimed, "The Strike's right the-" She swerved to the side as a shot came from the Buster, while the red High Maneuver GINN angled itself for a better shot.

"You boy-band wannabes!" She snarled, "You're not the first guys to try this stunt you know!"

For the most part, Aya had fought alone during the Gunpla Tournaments and never in the team battle leagues. One of the reasons for this was that most of her female friends were not interested in Gunpla battles, and those that were preferred to watch the matches rather than devote hours of time and Yen but risk their models suffering battle damage. The second reason was that those who approached her with offers of alliances were guys who were more interested in asking her out after the match rather than win. While not all of them were bad, some temporary alliances were indeed beneficial, the disappointments were rather numerous and it led to her being wary of teaming up with anyone she had no information on. As a result, Aya was used to fending off multiple teams, whether impromptu or not, of Gunpla Battlers seeking to make the tournament easier for themselves.

An emerald beam that whizzed by alarmingly close snapped her out of her thoughts. Things were getting busy.

"No problem," She thought in a tantrum, "I've dealt with this before."

Aya keyed in the Strike's frequency. Earlier on, she had turned off the receiver in an attempt to make the strange voices go away.

"Fire on the Crossbone!" She grated.

"Huh?! That's the name of your mobile suit?" Kira asked, clearly confused by the order, "Won't that-"

"DO IT NOW!" Aya yelled imperiously as she dodged another shot from an assailant.

The Strike complied and fired a shot from the massive Agni cannon. The crimson beam raced towards the Crossbone, about to envelop in it in lethal energies. However, the Crossbone, in another display of incredible agility, dodged it leaving its pursuer in the blast's path instead. The red High Maneuver GINN halted and reversed at the last second rewarding it's pilot with his life and the melted forearms of the unit.

It bought the Crossbone X2A Kai a few seconds of respite, but that was all Aya needed.

Slamming the twin buster guns together the black mobile suit formed what looked like a double barreled shotgun. It reached to its other hip armor and unclipped the Beam Zanber next. Fully armed, it activated its Heat Radiation system and the mouth vent opened up, giving it a sinister countenance.

"Hate to break up the party guys," Mu transmitted, "But we're about to reenter the atmosphere. Get in quick!"

The Strike turned to return, however, there was a problem. Due to the reentry procedures, the Archangel was forced to deactivate its defense system leaving it vulnerable to the missile and bazooka equipped GINNs that were firing with abandon now that the vessel's intent was clear.

In response the X2 dashed towards the nearest GINN but rather than slashing or stabbing it with its Beam Zanber it tackled the larger mobile suit in a hug, like an aggressive schoolgirl on her crush. The X2's thrusters then activated, spinning the two mobile suits around once, twice and then releasing its captive on the third revolution towards his companion. The two mobile suits were now tangled up together. It would have been a hilarious sight were they not filled with holes from multiple shots of the twin buster guns a moment later.

"This is the Strike," came an open broadcast, "I've returned to the ship."

The Archangel, and the nearby units was began to glow faintly red, indicating that time was running out.

The Crossbone turned to follow as well but it suddenly halted as its pilot heard another phantom voice.

 _"RAAAAAAAGHG!"_

The Crossbone turned and flashed the beam emitter on its forehead, blinding its attacker though the enemy didn't stop his attack.

The Duel slashed wildly at it nemesis but it missed and continued onwards with the momentum from the attack. Aya executed a textbook counter as it passed by, lashing out with its saber. However, the angle and speed of the Duel rendered the damage shallow. The blue Gundam's backpack was destroyed, sending the unit tumbling into the atmosphere.

With the way seemingly clear, the Crossbone headed towards the ship only to find a lone GINN making its way towards the open catapult. As she got closer, another barrage of unknown voices assailed Aya.

 _"Get..."_

 _"die..."_

Aya's eyes widened when she "heard" the last one. Was the pilot on a suicide run?

As if sensing her, the GINN turned around and reached out. It also had a gun on its other hand. The Crossbone Gundam's armor was notoriously thin, since the unit was designed to be agile rather than take hits. As such even shell firing weapons of old were a threat to it if a shot were to connect. It was for this reason that weapons such as the shot lancer and the simple machine gun of the GINN was a threat to the unit.

Things were getting desperate fast. The warning sound inside the panoramic cockpit hadn't stopped at all, the vision around Aya was tinged with red and the Crossbone was getting harder to control.

She took aim and fired a warning shot at the GINN as she made her way past it towards the open hanger. The Crossbone shuddered and Aya looked back to see the GINN had caught one of the legs.

 _"die..."_

 _"Let go!"_ The redhead growled, giving the mobile suit a kick, but it still held on.

 _"die..."_

"I said..." Aya aimed at the center mass of the mobile suit.

 _"Ken!"_

"LET."

 _"I don't want to die!"_

"GO!"

The shot punched through the armor, sending GINN into a fatal plunge into the Earth. Moments later it exploded but the Crossbone had already turned away and headed for the Archangel.

Aya's vision swam as she fought to stay conscious. The heat had risen dramatically, and the while the voices stopped their head-splitting effects remained. Finally making it to the open hanger, she landed the Crossbone but shudder caused it to slip back out. She fired the Scissor Anchors in desperation and hauled the unit in. Just then mobile suit's hand reached out from the darkness and drew in the X2.

"I've got her!" called a voice over the comms, "Close the hatch!"

As the doors closed Aya finally gave in and lost consciousness.

* * *

Author's note:

Hey! I'm back. To those who followed, favorited and reviewed, I'm sorry for this late update but life has been busy as of late. While exams are finally over, there was still the matter of fatigue that I had to get rid of for the last couple of days.

As promised, this is one is a big battle and an unexpectedly a long chapter. The Archangel is finally on the Earth and a few conversations have already been planned.

To those of you who haven't heard yet, there's also a new Gundam show on air, Iron Blooded Orphans which is looking promising. Check it out!

Until next time.


	7. Chapter 7: The Gravity Well

**I do not own Gundam Build Fighters/Try or any of the Gundam franchise.**

 **This story is inspired by Eyes in SEED authored by Nemesis Astrea and is written with his permission.**

* * *

CHAPTER 7:

The Gravity Well

~ Archangel Hanger ~

"Anything chief?" Lieutenant La Flaga asked for what seemed to be the third time. The X2A was unresponsive to communications ever since he brought it to the hanger during the Archangel's descent into Earth and the crew began to fear the worst.

"Nothing," Chief Murdock replied, "My guys were all over this thing. There's no emergency hatch lever of any kind. Not even a damn access port!"

Even without an emergency hatch lever, an access port would have allowed them some way to open the cockpit from the outside. Mu frowned as he looked up at the black G-Weapon. It was almost as if the thing was built to be some kind of flying coffin.

"Found something yet?" came a voice.

Mu turned to see Kira walking up towards them.

"Sorry kid," Mu answered. Originally he'd planned to get Kira to open up the X2A's cockpit once they found a port, but Chief Murdock's findings, or rather lack of it, had shot down the idea.

"What kind of mobile suit can't be accessed from the outside?" Kira wondered out loud, gazing at the silent machine.

"The kind whose owners don't want anyone snooping around their tech." Mu answered silently in his mind.

How _did_ she get it to open then? Maybe the Vice Foreign Minister wasn't too far off. What if Aya actually had some secret agen-

His musings were cut short when Mu heard a hiss, followed by surprised cries from the mechanics. Turning around, Mu saw the hatch open slightly and a figure staggered out of the cockpit.

It was Aya.

Still encased in her suit, she gripped the railings for support as she cleared the cockpit which immediately closed the hatch. Murdock was shouting for medics before Aya cut him off. Her voice was a bit hoarse, but she made it clear that she didn't want any help though everyone clearly thought otherwise. As she made her way on the gangplank Aya moved as if she was carrying a few dozen tons of weight, staggering every now and then. It was a sad sight.

Finally, one of them couldn't take it anymore.

"Aya!" Kira called out as she fell to one knee. He moved to help her before his arm was brushed away irritably.

"I said don't!" She said gruffly, "I'm not dead! And who turned on the gravity?"

"We're _on_ Earth." Kira said simply, partially chafing under her words.

"Oh, are we? I always wanted to visit the Earth," Aya deadpanned, "Joy."

Everyone watched in silence as the Martian girl regained her footing and staggered out of the hanger.

* * *

~ Archangel hallways, Aya ~

"Were the hallways always this long?" Aya thought irritably.

To say that the mere act of walking was cumbersome after grazing the atmosphere in a mobile suit would have been the understatement of the week. Were they in space, Aya could have floated to the room she was assigned to, an act that would have required only a fraction of the energy needed to walk.

Towards the end of the battle Aya passed out just before a mobile suit, she couldn't tell if it was the Strike or the Aegis, pulled in the X2A safely in the hanger. It was a complete stroke of luck that she had not fallen through the atmosphere for as long as anyone did in any of the meta-series otherwise she'd probably be dead. The displaced human didn't know how long she was out but the time spent unconscious was apparently not enough to recover from the ordeal.

"Tired...so tired," She mumbled to herself as she made her way to her room.

"Oh wait, I think the Wing boy-band fell through the atmosphere periodically, so I'm good." She thought deliriously. Her inner, lucid, self managed to send a warning to watch out in case someone saw her and thought she had a sanity slippage. _That_ would get her sent to the Medical Room, protest or not.

"Finally!" Aya exhaled tiredly as she reached her assigned room. It took several tries before Aya finally inputed the code correctly and she tumbled in.

Once inside she struggled to remove her flight suit, which had multiple redundant seals to prevent accidental openings when jarred in combat. During the process, which was equally tedious even at the best of times, Aya cursed and swore, abandoning every lesson in etiquette her mother had given her during the early years. Finally, just when it seemed that she'd run out of swear words to use, the suit finally came off. She kicked it away angrily, before remembering that her GP Base was still in one of the pockets.

Aya's thoughts were so disorganized from fatigue that she suddenly remembered that the door wasn't locked just before she reached her bed. The redhead angrily stomped towards the control panel and practically punched the lock code in. Finally done of all tasks she deemed necessary for her security and privacy, Aya fell tiredly on the bed whilst holding her GP Base in a vise grip as sleep took her.

Minutes later, the GP Base's light emitter, so drastically altered by the transition, began to glow. At first it was dim, and then the light intensified until the device released a burst of Plavsky particles which floated serenely around the room like snowflakes.

* * *

~ Desert, One day later ~

"So that's the legged ship..." The man with sideburns said to no one in particular. It had taken several hours of searching the desert from high orbit after the ZAFT space forces finally chased away the remnants of the Alliance's 8th Fleet. The search time was also stretched out by the need to search the surroundings discreetly lest the ship be alerted that ZAFT forces were in the immediate vicinity and thus lose the valuable element of surprise.

"Yes sir, are we going to destroy it now?" A freckled young man, clearly the person's aide, asked.

"No." The man answered as he reached into the jeep and pulled out a thermos. When most people thought of the desert they mainly imagined an endless sea of sand and scorching heat, forgetting that at night it could become unbearably frigid.

"Remember that the Le Crueset Team, backed by two other teams, couldn't defeat it in space," The man with sideburns continued as he opened the container. A pungent smell escaped along with a thin wisp of steam. "So for now, we're going to see firsthand what its capable of."

"Uh, coffee at this hour sir?" The young man asked with a slight frown.

"Don't worry so much Martin," The man answered lightly, "Its decaf. I managed to make one of my favorite flavors without losing the taste."

"Connect me to the troops." He said, a bit more serious now as he took a sip.

"This is Commander Waltfeld," Andrew Waltfeld said over the comm, "We found the ship, move to our location. Remember, no heroics and stick to the plan."

A chorus of affirmations came from the squad leaders who then relayed the message to their units.

As per standard practice, the search party's main force gathered in one secure location and stayed hidden while scouts expanded outwards in an increasing circle until one found the objective. It just so happened that the unit's commander, the famed Desert Tiger, was the one to find the target. Around the makeshift camp, soldiers scrambled into their vehicles and mobile suits, abandoning any equipment that was not needed or necessary for the upcoming mission.

Engines rumbled to life, monoeyes flashed and rotors spun as the squads left one by one. The last to leave were ZAFT's iconic weapons, the mobile suits. While GINNs stood out prominently, despite their desert camouflage there were other, relatively brighter colored, mobile suits among them. Whereas the GINNs stood upright like a human and resembled one as such, these units had more in common with terrestrial animals, with four of their feet on the ground. While GINNs could theoretically fight on the ground, they required heavy modifications and were clumsy at best due to Earth's gravity. Opposite of this spectacle were the new mobile suits, which had high-speed treads which could propel it at staggering speeds due to the distributed weight. In addition, their weapons swiveled on a turret so as not to squander the tactical advantage of the unit's speed. Lastly, its low profile, combined with its other traits made it a difficult target no matter what the combat environment it found itself on Earth. Its use had, in fact, partially earned the unit commander the name Desert Tiger.

Its name is the BuCUE

And just like the animal it resembled, perfected by evolution, it was highly specialized for one thing.

The BuCUEs raced off into the night to hunt.

* * *

~ Archangel Hanger, Kira ~

The hanger of the Archangel was darkened and dimly lit, with most of the mechanics having gone either to bed or taken a break. Designed to hold a full complement of mobile suits once the G-Weapons would enter mass production, its cavern-like interior seemed empty with only its three inhabitants docked in place. Despite the sleepy condition, faint clicking sounds could be heard from the cockpit of one of the immobile giants in the hanger. Kira's hands danced over the keyboard of the Strike as he programmed several sequences onto the mobile suit's computer. Having nothing to do for the past few hours, the brown haired coordinator decided to kill some time by fine tuning the Strike's Operating System. It was either this or continue to mill about with the other civilians still trapped on the ship and that got old real fast.

"Maybe I should slow the actuator response time a bit." He thought to himself.

One look outside and it didn't take a genius to know that a bipedal mobile suit struggle in the environment. A machine had two natural enemies, water and fine dirt. Both of them got in everywhere and ruined all mechanical components unless they specifically designed to be used in such an environment.

And the Strike was not made for a desert environment.

Despite being a general purpose mobile suit, the description was actually inaccurate. What it actually meant was that the frame was capable of modification to meet a variety of environments whether it be operations under gravity or in space.

Space...

The word brought up all sorts of associated images for Kira. Having started out his early years on the moon and eventually settling on _Heliopolis_ for the teenager it meant home - at least until the colony collapsed. However, lately his memories of space were dominated by mobile suits clashing fiercely for reasons he couldn't understand - and a certain mysterious redhead.

He activated one of the cameras and spied the X2A across the hanger. With its dark color scheme, sharp angles and blood red lenses it looked like a wraith in the gloom of the hanger. Despite being offline, it still managed to look sinister just standing there.

A day and a half ago, Kira remembered that the mechanics had vainly tried to get the machine's cockpit open to no avail. He was puzzled as to why whoever designed the unit neglected that particular feature. It certainly wasn't due to the machine's size. Despite its raised heels, the X2A was still smaller than either the Strike or the Aegis. Over the short time Kira saw the unit in action, his engineer's eye had appreciated the unit's design. It utilized a basic, fixed concept in its structure that emphasized aggressive maneuvers in combat. This was made possible by the multitude of verniers throughout the body, though the unit's large thrusters were the obvious source of propulsion.

"Come to think of it, she never requested a recharge or refuel," Kira thought, "What does that thing run on?"

Rather than pursue this line of thought, however, Kira's thoughts drifted towards Aya as she emerged from the mobile suit over a day ago. It didn't really help that the camera was fixed on the spot where she first emerged after the ship landed on Earth or that he had near eidetic memory.

"Can't she be nice for a change?" Kira thought sourly as he remembered how abrasive she seemed at the time. Sandpaper would have been smoother. The Martian was a direct contrast to Lacus who looked to be the kindest soul Kira had met.

Remembering Aya's attitude, however, sparked a new line of thought. He remembered her saying she was a "Newtype." What was that anyway?

"Wait..." Kira froze as an answer for Aya's behavior crystalized.

Lieutenant La Flaga had said that Martians took the gene coordination a step further by engineering people for a certain role. What if Aya was purposely made to be this way? Granted, it was impossible to shape a person's thoughts and attitude completely using genes. There would always be impulses or new experiences that would prompt a person to think beyond their current circumstances but predispositions could be artificially induced. The next step would logically be to create a niche in society that fed these role centered attitudes in the genes. For someone like Aya it would result in a-

 _Combat Coordinator..._

His mind had attached a short description of his theory. A chill ran down Kira's spine as he began to see the red haired pilot in a new light. While he had no solid proof, his theory helped explain Aya's sardonic responses to any suggestion that avoided combat (such as Flay suggesting that they attempt to escape on a shuttle) as well as her exuberance whenever she entered a battle. Rather than opening new doors of possibility for humans as a whole as George Glenn had envisioned, she embodied a potential future of humanity where people could be indirectly controlled from the moment of birth.

While Kira had always thought that the bias against coordinators was unfounded and rooted in humanity's innate distrust of the new. He had always believed that people could choose to be whoever they wanted to be as a person regardless of whether they were a coordinator or a natural. However, Aya's existence had shown him the potential dark side of genetic engineering. It was a world where people's "choices" would only be superficial and there would be no true freedom. Perhaps the process could even be tampered with to serve the interests of an elite few.

Kira despaired upon realizing that the war he had become involved in was only just the beginning.

* * *

~ PLANTs, Aprilius One, Clyne Residence ~

"Haro."

"Haro."

"Haro."

"Work time! Haro!"

"Haro."

"Haro."

"Haro."

A gaggle of small robots, each a different and vivid color, bounced into the yard. The warm light and steady breeze gave the impression of a lazy "afternoon" courtesy of the PLANT environment system.

The mistress of the colorful horde arrived moments after the energetic robot pets and surveyed the yard. It was empty. She'd given most of the servants the day off with only the butler, one of the chefs, and a few of the gate guards remaining in the estate. Still it paid to be cautious, despite their small number and shared plight coordinators weren't all exactly on the same page on many issues. And some of those dissidents weren't shy of using violence to further their own aims.

"Alright everyone!" Lacus announced in a singsong voice as she clapped her hands, "Take your places!"

The Haros all replied with a chorus of "Haro!" and spread out into the yard, forming a rough circle if one were to look from above. As for Lacus, she walked over to a table with a computer, tea and snacks. The table's position was such that the occupant would face the yard's only entrance while keeping the screen's contents hidden behind the user and nothing short of a person leaning over her would one be able to see what she was reading. The pink haired songstress took a sip of her favorite tea and moaned with bliss. Then she tapped a button on the computer and the Haros suddenly ceased all movements and dropped as if they were puppets with their strings cut.

This was a natural consequence of their built-in ECM devices activating, draining most of their power leaving little for locomotion. Due to their size Lacus initially had difficulty installing said ECM devices into the previously hollow machines. Eventually she persevered but at the cost of being able to install only one type of ECM on a single Haro and draining its power source. It was fortunate that Athrun kept sending her more all the time, neglecting the fact that any normal girl (even a coordinator) would have found the third Haro redundant, annoying or worse...seen as a chore to be done for their girlfriend. Fortunately she had found a use for them beyond companionship so she didn't complain - out loud anyway.

Confident that she had some privacy, Lacus opened several sealed files to review the current events so far. Several images of the G-weapons expanded though she brushed them away impatiently looking for two particular files.

Found them!

Lacus frowned as she observed the footage of the Strike in battle. Kira seemed to be a bit...tame in his actions, almost measured. He actually began to use sensible tactics in the succeeding battles after they'd met. Oh, it was a massive improvement over his earlier performance but it was nowhere near what she'd expected. She moved on to the file of the one most likely responsible for the change of behavior.

Images of the X2 Crossbone, what little there was of it, appeared. Its movements were swift and graceful as it executed no-nonsense attacks on all the ZAFT mobile suits that dared to challenge it. And its appearance. It was painfully clear it was not a mobile suit seen in either factions.

Lacus was disappointed. Apart from the raised heels, additional thrusters and the beam emitter on the forehead, it didn't look very special.

The pink haired teen laughed almost scornfully as she watched the Duel destroy the Beam Launcher in the battle over Earth.

"Oh my," She said in her deceptively sweet voice, "Lost the launcher this early in the game? Tsk. Tsk." She immediately knocked down two notches in skill from her initial assessment of the pilot. Well, that was actually a bit of good news.

An image of the pilot, taken by Pink Haro surreptitiously when she had caught it, appeared on screen. It showed a teen, about 16 years old, with reddish orange hair and blue eyes. She looked pretty enough to be popular among the males in her school. Lacus remembered her name was Aya.

"So...you're the pilot." Lacus smiled, as if they were talking face to face.

If she really was the cause of Kira's deviance in expected behavior then removing her from the picture shouldn't require a lot of effort. A lot of accidents could happen along the way to Alaska. Even if the pilot did happen to have a hidden ace up her sleeve, which Lacus doubted due to the small size of the Crossbone...

Lacus opened another folder and concept art of the Freedom, Justice and Providence appeared along with a fourth one.

She had insurance.

This war was going to end the way it was suppose to end. Her way.

No outsider was going to interfere with her plans.

"Fufu," Lacus chuckled to herself. She would let this Aya flail around a bit before deciding on how to act. The loss of the Aegis was unexpected but if delivered to the Alliance it could result in some new mobile suit designs rather than boring Strike derivatives. Who knows? She might actually accelerate the war in Lacus' favor.

"Enjoy your stay."

* * *

~ Archangel, Kira ~

"C'mon, C'mon." He muttered, as if it would actually help hurry things along.

Finally the door opened, revealing a dark room and an even darker look from Aya. Her reddish-orange hair was tussled and clung closely to her body. The faint smell of salt and a bit of spice indicated that she probably hadn't bathed yet. It appeared she had spent the the past couple of days sleeping.

"Yes?" She asked, "Can I help you?" Despite the words her tone clearly indicated otherwise. Seeing as she wearing only a sleeveless shirt Kira kept his eye focused on a particular point on her forehead. It would be for the best not to aggravate her.

"We're under attack!," Kira said, "The Lieutenant is already getting ready to deploy."

As if to emphasize his words the ship rocked from a couple of explosions.

"Deal with it you- Alright," Aya stopped herself in mid-snap, "Give me five minutes."

Kira turned to leave before Aya stopped him.

"What equipment are you sortieing in?" She asked.

"Uh, the Launcher Pack," Kira answered, "Why?"

"Bring something else with you, like the beam rifle." Aya suggested before closing the door.

"Use the beam rifle huh...?" Kira mused as he headed for the hanger.

~ o ~

"...my ass!" Kira swore out loud as he reflected on Aya's advice.

The enemy mobile suits excelled in hit and run tactics. Due to their high speed and swiveling turrets they continually landed more shots on the Strike than Kira's retaliatory shots. During the skirmish, Kira used the shoulder-mounted gatling gun to down the helicopters whose task seemed to be wear down his Phase Shift Armor by firing their weapons at every opportunity. The Agni Cannon's effectiveness, in contrast, had been drastically reduced since the enemy BuCUEs utilized the sand dunes for cover whenever they couldn't evade a shot fast enough.

The beam rifle was a much better weapon to deal with the fast moving targets, however, it caused an additional drain on the Strike's battery.

Kira had panicked when his reserves had reached 25% only for the X2A to (finally) exit the Archangel. However, rather than dive into the fray like she normally did, Aya jumped back to the front catapult of the Archangel and remained there, firing only an occasional supporting shot at the BuCUEs. None of them landed a hit.

"The X2A is tuned for space." Aya answered flatly when the purple eyed teen requested for additional support, "Besides, this is my first ground combat. I'm not sure how well I'd do."

Kira was flabbergasted as he heard this.

"Are you serious?" He almost screamed.

"Yes."

He didn't have time to think a suitable retort as a shot impacted on his side which further drained his energy.

As Kira struggled to keep the Strike upright, rewriting the OS in mid-fight only helped somewhat, a voice-only transmission came over the communications channel. A young woman spoke, no ordered, him to move towards the marked location in the distance if he wanted to live to see the next day.

The purple eyed teen moved to the marker on his screen after considering that he had no other choice. The Archangel couldn't fire in his position since he was too close to the enemy and the ZAFT mothership continually bombarded the Archangel, limiting its movements. He certainly wasn't getting any help from Aya.

Kira fired the Strike's thrusters and hopped over towards the objective. The BuCUEs fired in the air, attempting to shoot him down once he reached the apex of his jump. Kira dodged for his life and whirled around to fire a retaliatory shot with the gatling gun. The weapon squeezed off a burst before falling silent.

Out of Ammo.

He ejected the Launcher Pack seeing as it was now dead weight. Not a moment later, a rail cannon round impacted on the Strike's chest draining the energy needed to maintain the Phase Shift Armor down to the red zone. The once colorful armor now changed to a dull gray. Using this opportunity, Kira sped away drawing the combat knives just in case.

The Strike dashed once. Twice. Suddenly it froze in mid-stride like a puppet with its strings cut.

Kira pressed several buttons frantically, hoping to reroute any spare energy but it was useless. The battery was completely spent. What little energy was left was automatically saved to open the hatch from inside and power the screens and even that for a limited time only. The objective, Kira saw they were ruins of some vehicles, was only a short distance away.

Yes, he was able to see it because his back was towards the pursuing enemies.

The remaining ZAFT BuCUEs spread out in a semi-circle, moving cautiously in case there was a trap. Not for the first time did their movements remind Kira of wolves hunting their prey. Now they had cornered it and were waiting for the time to land the killing blow.

One of them, probably the leader, took a tentative step forward before it quickly turned its head about. The others followed suit and whirled around training their weapons outwards. Kira looked at the rear camera and couldn't believe what he saw.

The rear most BuCUE was flat on its belly, its legs splayed outwards comically as if it was a hit by hammer. Embedded in the center of its dorsal was the giant beam of the X2A's large saber. The black machine was kneeling on the ground, as if it had used all of its weight to drive the beam saber onto the back of the BuCUE. The X2A looked up like a child caught doing what they were expressly prohibited to do.

The BuCUEs reacted by firing at the new enemy. The X2A reacted faster.

It fired a snap shot, hitting the nearest BuCUE dead center. The X2A dashed forward, a dark blur, followed by a cone of dust as it rocketed towards the immobile Strike.

The enemy mobile suits hesitated to fire as it dashed past them, afraid of hitting their comrades in a crossfire. Once it was clear, they opened fire vengefully at the killer of their friends. The X2A ignored the shots and headed towards the ruined husks. Along the way it landed on the Strike's shoulders, causing it to fall face first into the sand.

The BuCUEs raced after the Crossbone, ignoring the fallen Strike as they passed it, reasoning that the pilot could not even escape due to how the cockpit was blocked by the desert floor in its prone position.

Just as the Crossbone sped past the ruins, it turned in mid-flight and activated its beam emitter, temporarily blinding the pursuing forces.

Then the desert erupted.

The ruined vehicles were laced with high explosives that the Strike's mysterious helper detonated once the BuCUEs were in range. The result was a spectacular fireball that engulfed the pursuers, none of which emerged from the inferno.

Kira cycled through the cameras, hoping to see what the explosion was about. He didn't know how he'd react if he saw the wreckage of the X2A. Finally finding one, he saw the X2A.

It was leaning over the Strike's prone form as if it were examining something curious that happened along its path, arms spread slightly apart. Behind it was the remains of the ZAFT force that had been plaguing the Archangel and the Strike.

"Car troubles?" Aya asked playfully over the comms. He could imagine her smile over the new transmission.

Kira punched the communications button off.

* * *

~ Desert, Adrew Waltfeld ~

"Well, that was a disaster..." the Desert Tiger brooded internally as Martin drove them away from the carnage. Almost all of the scouting party was gone, a huge blow for the ZAFT forces.

"The Lesseps reports minor damage from the legged ship's reconnaissance aircraft," Martin DaCosta reported, "Nothing else of note sir."

Andrew thought back to the battle. They would have had the Strike at the very least if those meddling rebels hadn't cut in. He didn't understand them at all. When he first came here, Andrew did his best not to trample on any of their existing laws, imposing what he thought to be reasonable restrictions to their actions and using violence only as a last resort. He even made it abundantly clear to his subordinates in private on what should happen if they attacked civilians without express orders from headquarters. And how did the inhabitants respond?

The people acted like the ZAFT forces burned, pillaged and raped their homes. They were the ones who used violence. _They_ shot first.

"We can't let this slide without a response." He said quietly, letting a bit of anger bleed through his voice.

* * *

Author's note:

Hey! What's up guys? As for this late update the usual reasons: Busy. Busy. I'm not even sure if I can get a week off for the holidays.

Anyway...

By now, you've noticed that Kira has been slightly improving rather than use god-mode during the fights. That's because, if you can recall, the event that triggers his SEED Mode never happened in space. Thus, while he learns faster than most being the ultimate coordinator and all (ho-hum), it won't be at an absurd rate either. I mean, Yzak and Dearka never thought of rewriting their OS in the middle of their fight did they?

Next up is the re-appearance of Lacus. All is not what it seems and she has a much bigger, though less visible, role in the events of this story. Particularly the ending.

While it might seem like I'm rushing this segment, I have plans for some character development in this arc. I'm also experimenting with the little breaks to help with scene transitions, the "~ o ~" thing. This story and my other one could have used this earlier on, but better late than never.

Until next time.


	8. Chapter 8:Tiger Territory

**I do not own Gundam Build Fighters/Try or any of the Gundam franchise.**

 **This story is inspired by Eyes in SEED authored by Nemesis Astrea and is written with his permission.**

* * *

CHAPTER 8:

The Tiger Territory

~ Desert, Archangel ~

"Who are they?" Natarle asked out loud as they observed the gathered force around the Archangel's two mobile suits.

"I can't see any identification on them," Murrue answered back from her station, "But since they attacked ZAFT they could be potential allies."

"I...would advise jumping to such conclusion," Natarle began, "But I won't complain about any help we can get."

"Then lets go meet them."

"Right," Natarle acknowledged.

"I want CIWS on standby, watch for potential boarders as well." The raven-haired officer ordered.

Murrue let out a sigh. Somewhere along her career Natarle had found the perfect balance between paranoia and efficiency.

\- 0 -

"Who are these people?" Kira wondered at the group clustering around the Strike and X2A.

The group was dressed for the desert, with scarves and goggles to keep the sun and the dust away. They carried with them various outdated weaponry such as unguided rocket launchers and assault rifles, all of which wouldn't do much against a mobile suit. And speaking of mobile suits...

"A little help please." He ground out to the X2A.

"Sorry," Aya replied in her monotone voice, "I forgot about that."

"Why am I not surprised?" Kira thought as the Strike was unceremoniously turned over like a pancake, freeing the access hatch from the desert floor.

As Kira emerged he saw that the captain, ensign Badgiruel and Lieutenant La Flaga were speaking to them.

"Nice timing!" Mu said with a smile, "We were just gonna call you."

The Hawk of Endymion made a 'come down' gesture to the X2A. It was then that Kira noticed a blonde among the group. He was wearing a green flak jacket and goggles while a red scarf covered his mouth. While the goggles hid his eyes, there was no doubt that he was looking at Kira and his body language barely concealed his hostility towards him.

"Does he blame coordinators for the war too?" Kira wondered sadly.

Just then Aya descended from the Crossbone Gundam with her helmet still in place just like Kira.

"You!" The blonde yelled.

"Uh oh." Kira groaned inwardly.

"What the hell do you think you're doing in those things?!" The blonde took a swing at Aya, who appeared to not hear him.

However, befitting her heritage, Aya moved swiftly before the fist could connect, grabbed her assailant's arm and tripped him to land face first into the sand.

The officers and the armed group stopped their conversation and turned to look at the little drama unfolding near them.

Aya tore off her helmet looking bewildered.

"What was that?!" She all but yelled, eyes wide.

For some reason, Kira found her normal reaction to a surprise attack quite funny. It seemed she wasn't unflappable after all. Unfortunately, his mirth within died when the blonde got up, tearing off his now misaligned goggles while his scarf fell to the ground. Only it wasn't a boy, it was a girl - the one Kira shoved into a shelter in _Heliopolis_. The blonde bo-girl(!) glared daggers at Aya whose face returned to its impassive state as she saw her assailant's face.

"Oh."

* * *

~ Command post, Andrew Waltfeld ~

"Hmm...what about this one then Martin?" A man with dark brown hair asked as he sipped his coffee.

"As with the others we're not sure," Martin DaCosta replied, "but the most recent intel points out that there's been a lot of insurgent activity going through here for the past few days. Maybe they got wind of the Legged Ship's descent as well."

"Alright, Tassil it is then." Andrew decided, "Prep the BuCue Reconnaissance."

"Uh, you won't be sortieing sir?" Martin asked as he followed his commanding officer out of the building, "Does that mean that she'll be using the 802 P-Mod this time?"

"Yeah, there's no need for me to personally handle this. I have to be there to keep and eye on things," The Desert Tiger acknowledged as he looked at a saber-fanged grey and orange custom BuCue.

"Besides, Aisha can handle a village."

* * *

~ Gibraltar, ZAFT base ~

"I'm glad both of you are safe." Rau stated as Yzak and Dearka faced him on the screen.

The duo had arrived on Earth a few days ago, at roughly the same time as the Legged Ship. Thankfully, they fell into ZAFT controlled territory and were picked up only in a few hours. Had they re-entered the atmosphere and landed in hostile territory, the Alliance would have wasted no time recovering the two stolen G-Weapon while "forcefully" removing the pilots (who were still unconscious).

"Sir, what are our orders?" Dearka asked, not trusting his temperamental academy friend to speak respectfully, "Are we to return to space?"

"No, our war strategy is moving on to the second phase so there will be little to do here, you two will be better help down there. I am, in fact, scheduled to come down in a few days." The masked man replied, "Instead, you are to link up with Commander Waltfeld and continue pursuit of the Legged Ship."

"Commander Waltfeld?" Dearka blurted out, " _The_ Desert Tiger?"

"One of them anyway." Rau smiled, enjoying a private joke, "I'll forward your data files to him and request integration into his unit for the duration of the mission. That is all."

The two reds saluted as the image winked off.

"What did he mean by 'one' of them?" Dearka mumbled as he brought his arm down.

"Who cares?!" Yzak snarled as he started to remove the bandages around his head, "We're gonna get that little shit and the Legged Ship. So don't slack off! You can chase skirts after that black G-Weapon is a smoldering crater!"

"Gee, thanks Elseman," Dearka rolled his eyes while mimicking Yzak's voice as best as he could, "You know you didn't have to dive in and try to save me like that but you did it anyway, you're a real _pal_."

Up until now Yzak was still raging at the pilot of the mysterious G-Weapon that left him a little "souvenir" in space and took out his anger on everything and everyone he could. The silver haired pilot had even refused to have the scar erased until he could have his revenge.

The tanned coordinator sighed. Ever since he knew Yzak the guy always had a one track mind and was a bit self centered. Once he set his sights on something he would pursue it to its conclusion no matter what. Why couldn't he do that on the more...attractive things in life? Dearka would have loved to see how he'd have dated that one pilot who had a crush on him. What was her name again? Sinon? Shiho? Ah, he could't remember. What he got instead was...

Yzak let the bandages fall, revealing massive scar that cut across his face that further accentuated his scowl.

 _That_.

* * *

~ Tassil Village ~

"So, these marks are all confirmed to belong to the freedom fighters?" Aisha asked as she twirled an orange strand of hair. Earlier on scouts had eliminated all nearby rebel sentries allowing the mobile suits to approach the village quietly.

"Yeah, this is the latest intel from our spies and informants," Andrew replied over the line, "Burn all of it down, but keep collateral to a minimum. Show them what it means to abuse our generosity."

"Acknowledged," Aisha keyed out the transmission and reiterated the instructions to the other four BuCues. The punitive force consisted of a total of seven machines including Andy's and a support GINN, though the latter two wouldn't be participating.

"Time to spank the children."

The BuCue P-mod rose out of its hiding spot and rotated its turret. A second later a round impacted on the outer most structure marked as "hostile" on the screen and the building crumbled neatly to the ground. Small explosions detonated, indicating it was indeed one of structures used to house weaponry for the rebels calling themselves the Desert Dawn.

The five BuCues moved slowly and deliberately into the village firing precision shots at targeted buildings. The inhabitants were now in a panic, whether they inside their homes or out on the streets. Any rebels within the crowd were just as surprised, however, their reactions betrayed their identities as they rallied to respond to the attacks.

Aisha and the other BuCue pilots reacted quickly and mercilessly. Anyone seen yelling orders or what appeared to such were presumed to be rebels and were gunned down by wing-mounted anti-personnel machine guns whether they were near a crowd or not. One brave fighter made it to the rooftop with a rocket launcher and took aim at the orange BuCue. The mobile suit's monoeye swiveled and glared at the attacker. As the rocket left the tube, the linear cannon had already rotated and fired, the anti-mobile suit round _disintegrated_ the rocket in mid-flight and the foolhardy operator as well as blowing off the top portion of the building he was on.

Similar scenes played out as the other BuCues swaggered through the town, eliminating their assigned targets and any who thought to resist. While people were panicking now running around in a chaotic pattern, trampling any who fell and couldn't rise fast enough. The BuCues moved through the crowd, heedless of them, after all they could have easily run them over in tank mode. If they got caught underneath a mechanized foot it wasn't the pilot's fault - it was the rebels' for attacking ZAFT.

Aisha riddled a building with the P-mod's giant gatling cannon as she saw armed individuals take refuge inside when a pilot contacted her.

"Commander, this is Kirkwood, the sector is clear."

"Excellent." A thin smile formed on Aisha's mouth, "Next."

* * *

~ Desert Dawn Base, Archangel ~

Aya stretched in the cockpit of the X2A. She'd fallen asleep inside again. The redhead had been doing this frequently as of late. Oddly enough, she found the cockpit to be more comfortable than her assigned quarters. For one thing, it minimized the chance of someone sneaking in and swiping her GP Base, the one (and only item) she'd brought with her from the real world and was key to the X2A. It might also be her only ticket home though there was no guarantee that she would return home after completing the events of the _Bloody Valentine War._ As a result, she carried with her everywhere. While the crew of the Archangel were portrayed as "nice" on the show, and it was also true here, Aya noticed small differences in their behavior such as how normal people would act in a given situation. Though it could be the result of overthinking and/or a viewer's instinct to compare two different things from the same source, the repercussions of them knowing who she was would be severe to say the least. She wouldn't put it past Natarle to order someone to "bring our resident Martian's gadget in for analysis."

Aya popped the hatch open and stepped out, rotating her shoulders. She found the hanger to be partially lit, with a few people moving about below.

"Hey!" Chief Murdock called out as he saw her descend from the steps, "That girl, Cagalli, was looking for you a few minutes ago. She said she'd be back after a while."

"Oh, thanks," Aya replied, "Did she say why?"

"Nope."

Aya nodded and turned to leave.

"Why was Cagalli looking for her?" She wondered, "To talk about how 'mobile suits are bad' no doubt."

The Gunpla Battler smiled to herself. Based on the events of the series Cagalli would right now be traipsing outside, inadvertently listening in to Flay tell Sai how she slept with Kira. Aya hadn't been around Cagalli long enough to change any of the events which meant that she could avoid that sordid affair, and any of Cagalli's questions, if she stayed inside the ship.

Besides, weird things were happening to her*, and it only bolstered her desire to stay inside the ship. Earlier on when she first descended from the Crossbone she had expected to Cagalli to take a swing at Kira and not her. However, that was not what was strange since little deviations could be expected, rather what was unnerving was that she still possessed her "Newtype" sight _outside_ of the cockpit.

When Cagalli tried to punch her Aya had a vague feeling of hostility and _something_ approaching her followed by a ghostly image of a large but faint red line the size of someone's arm.

Cagalli's arm.

Her father's training kicked in and she was thankfully able to avoid the attack, even though it might not have done much damage since she wore a helmet at the time. Still, the fact that it happened was disconcerting enough and Aya wanted some quiet moments to regain her composure.

Like a quiet dinner.

Meanwhile, Cagalli strode through the halls looking for the pilot of the Strike or the black G-Weapon. She had a lot of things to say to them.

Why couldn't they understand that continual development of mobile suits would only worsen warfare? Never mind the one they were having right now. It wasn't just about Orb and its pacifistic ideals, it was about the Human race as a whole.

* * *

~ Archangel, Aya ~

"What are you doing here?!" Aya asked the group both angry and surprised to find them in the mess hall.

The group of teens looked back in surprise, unsure as to what they did to make the pilot angry.

Sai, Flay, Mirallia and Tolle sat together while Kira was positioned as far away from the group's prejudiced and spoiled redhead. Kuzzy was in his usual corner of the table. And while Mirallia and Tolle sitting close together was expected, Flay and Sai looked really...cozy together. Aya specifically remembered the _Desert Arc_ was the part where she and Sai broke off.

"Uh, dinner?" Tolle ventured.

"You!" Cagalli interjected, "I've been wanting to talk to you!"

"About what?" Aya replied, her eyes narrowing.

"I know what you're up to!"

"Please be specific, I have many things to do." Aya replied neutrally.

To her credit, Cagalli only seemed temporarily put-off by someone she couldn't yell into submission. It was working so well with the teens from _Heliopolis_.

"I've heard about you and where you're from," Cagalli started, "Is Mars building mobile suits of their own too? They're planning to join the war at some point aren't they?!"

The blonde stared down the redhead, who didn't seem affected by the sheer blunt force her accuser projected.

"Its the Martian Colonies, not Mars," Aya corrected, "And no, I do not have any idea what my superiors are planning. I'm just a resource guard. That is all."

"Wait, you're just a guard?!" Sai asked in disbelief, "Bu-but you pilot a G-weapon like Kira!"

"What is a G-Weapon?" Aya asked.

"A prototype mobile suit," Kira supplied honestly, "Utilizing next gen technologies."

It wasn't like he was giving away any military secrets to Aya by telling her this or breaking any rules, especially since the redhead was the one who tore up his discharge paper to begin with. Plus she had seen enough to, at least, deduce what the Strike could do.

"Oh, that explains the unit's horrifically inefficient build," She answered, "I suppose mine is the same in a similar way, except it is more of a patchwork mobile suit than a real prototype. What with the probability its going to explode if I push it too hard - or the lack of a core fighter."**

"Wait...explode?!" Kira asked fearfully.

"That's what I said," Aya said dourly, "The next generation XM-10 Flints fixed all the problems of the X series including those two problems and more. And don't try to change the topic!"

"That's right! We're talking about the Martian Arms Buildup!" Cagalli re-inserting herself back into the conversation.

"Even if that's the case, so what?" Aya shot back, "Even neutral countries like Orb are building their own mobile suits."

"We shouldn't be building more weapons of war!" Cagalli declared, "More weapons would mean more casualties! More destruction and hatred!"

Aya smiled coolly, giving the teens a very bad feeling.

"And what would be your alternative to stopping the war then hmmm?" She said slyly, knowing that the blonde never presented a solid argument in the series.

"No, let's start with something easier," Aya stated, "What would be your plan to protect a neutral nation's borders in the event someone, like say, the Alliance wanted something from that country?"

"We'd..." Cagalli trailed off.

"Talk to them through diplomacy? Even when they roll over the token defense force of the country?" Aya supplied, "I doubt even you could turn away an entire army merely with words. No matter how caustic they might be." She smiled wryly.

"A country should, at the very least, maintain a formidable defense force," Aya said more softly this time, "One that would give aggressors a second thought about attacking the country."

"But fighting is wrong!" Kira stood up this time, "There is **no** point to fighting!"

"Of course there isn't," Aya replied, much to Kira's surprise. He'd expected her outright to debunk him.

"However, you can't deny its an effective method to get what you want quickly. Also, some people are just belligerent to begin with. So please refer to my previous statement regarding self-defense." She continued.

"Blue Cosmos..." Sai spoke quietly.

"Precisely." Aya said giving a pleased smile in Sai's direction, "You have someone who actually connects the dots in his life. You should listen to him more."

The unexpected praise caused the blonde teen blushed while Flay's expression went from the ranges of disbelief to jealous to psycho within a couple of seconds, but Aya didn't notice because Cagalli was preparing a third volley.

"Don't you see?!" Cagalli began, "The more weapons there are, the more casualties there are going to be when fighting erupts!"

"Then let's just hope that one side has enough of them to end the fighting quickly to _reduce_ the casualties," Aya said a bit more acerbically, "Those high sounding ideals people in Orb have? They are only possible because the military exists to keep the more aggressive neighbors in check and allowing the citizens the _privilege_ to think that way."

The redhead pinched the bridge of her nose as if calming herself. It was the closest Kira had seen the Martian pilot from getting angry.

"We're going about in circles," She said finally, "Now is not really the time to agitate me, because I have not eaten since-"

The ship alarms blared.

The Gunpla Battler sighed miserably.

* * *

~ Tassil ~

Smoke rose into the sky from wrecked buildings and vehicles as the Archangel crew arrived on the scene. It appeared that the ZAFT punitive force had already left.

"The parts of the town are wrecked but, thankfully, civilian casualties were kept to a minimum," Mu reported to Captain Ramius, "However, all known Desert Dawn assets are gone. You name it, members who stayed behind, frequented meeting places, safe houses, general homes, and their stored ammunition in the caves. ZAFT knew where to look."

"This is terrible..." Murrue muttered.

"Uh, Actually it could have been worse," Mu stated, "Based on what I've heard of the gear they were packing, they could have leveled the entire town. You really don't want to see what happened to those who tried to attack an orange custom BuCue. The Desert Tiger let them off easy."

"Easy?!" A voice in the background screeched, Cagalli, "You call all of this destruction 'let off easy'?"

"Ah, crap," Mu said in a more hushed tone, "I gotta deal with something here, send whatever additional aid you can."

"Captain." the pilot added as an afterthought as he cut communication.

"You SEE?!" Cagalli railed at Mu as he put away the comm device, "This is what happens if you continue to develop mobile suits!"

Kira, who also accompanied the relief crew, winced. For the reasons that Cagalli had a point and that her voice was becoming physically painful to listen to now.

"And YOU!" She pointed at the X2A that stood motionless on the desert, "Why aren't you helping?!"

"I'm a pilot," The X2A's head tilted down, as if it was a titan that had deigned to notice a mortal, "There's no one to fight here. I can't help."

The cold statement only reinforced Kira's earlier theory about Aya's genetic origins.

"Uh, how about helping in distributing supplies?" Mu said, attempting to pacify the situation before it got out of hand. People were already looking at their group now.

Angry-looking people.

After a minute, the X2A's hatch opened, and the pilot rappelled down, with a neutral look. Due to the speed of their deployment, Aya didn't have any time to change into her flight suit. Instead, she wore a white, unmarked, junior officer's uniform she had found in her room. Apparently, the clothes she had been given were never returned after a second wash due to the chaotic event of landing on Earth.

"Well?" She said in her usual flat tone, "Where are the supplies?"

* * *

Author's note:

*At this point in time Aya has been bathing in Plavsky Particles. I know it only affects the plastic, but it did bring her to the SEED universe. I'd like to think that Plavsky Particles are like are like air. A little won't affect you or anything much, but a lot will.

**Here, Aya just made the exploding part up.

Well, here's the most recent update to The Plavsky Effect! Its a little bit short but not by much. I was very much taken by the idea that Aisha did more things in the background rather than being Andrew's girlfriend. She couldn't be just a mere co-pilot or even administrator since Martin DaCosta fulfills the latter role. So here's her additional role in the story.

While the events in Tassil here are a bit more graphic than in the anime this is what I presume would actually happen when you raid a town that doubles as a base for guerrillas. I'm not making light of it but some casualties are to be expected when a style of warfare relies on melting into the civilian population as a MO.

Also some bad news, the desert arc is going longer than expected. Maybe two more chapters at the very least. I'll try to cram the events into that much due a reveal when they reach Orb. I think we can afford to skip the Sea arc since the show rushed that as well.

Second, I may seem a bit harsh with my portrayal with Cagalli here but this is genuinely how I remember her. She could have at least given viewers an alternative solution to fighting in the show but all I remember her doing is crying and yelling. She'll get a bit more screen time here though with Aya and Kira as the former's appearance is sure to shake things up a bit.

Lastly, as I've mentioned in my other fic, this story's plot has been refined a bit. Its still going to end the same way but this time, with the appearance of a (relatively) never heard of mobile suit before. Hint: It has no gunpla and its considered OP.

Until next time.


	9. Chapter 9: On The Burning Sand

**I do not own Gundam Build Fighters/Try or any of the Gundam franchise.**

 **This story is inspired by Eyes in SEED authored by Nemesis Astrea and is written with his permission.**

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CHAPTER 9:

On The Burning Sand

* * *

~ Tassil, Desert ~

 _"Oh yeah! This is what they call being immersed in the show all right!"_ Aya thought snarkily to no one in particular.

Just like how she remembered in the show, the Archangel crew distributed what supplies they could to the people of Tassil after the Desert Tiger's. What was not in the show, however, was the weeping and crying and voices in her head. Upon approaching the town she felt an immense wave of pressure, like someone positioned a blower in front of her which was impossible because she was inside the cockpit. As a result she didn't really want to come down of the X2A and face that, but stupid, emotional Cagalli had to notice the towering black mobile suit baking in the sun. So here she was, feeling extremely uneasy, handing out food and water bottles to the victims of the attack.

 _"Why? Why us?"_

 _"Hang in there..."_

 _"Gone...its all gone..."_

While the sheer number of casualties were definitely not there in the series, the Andrew Waltfeld seemed to have tried to avoid casualties which was in line with his personality.

 _Tried_.

There were definitely casualties here. Some of the civilians lay bandaged and bleeding in the streets, others slumped on walls in shock and family members comforted each other. What bothered her more though was that she was hearing a multitude of people speaking. Some she knew were speaking out loud because their mouths were moving but others...

 _"Mom? *Sniff* Mom?"_

She handed a bottle of water to a child who looked to her for reassurance but received none as she was already moving towards the next person. Nope, mouth not open. The kid wasn't the one speaking. Next person in need.

Was she going crazy? Aya didn't feel bad or acted in a way that deviated from her planned (and practiced) behavior.

Kira observed Aya as she moved amongst the crowd. She was fairly easy to spot due to the borrowed officer's uniform while her long, reddish-orange hair was unusual in the demographic present. Her face, however, was locked in a blank expression that, unbelievably, became agitated whenever she approached one of the people.

He saw the whole thing with the child and even a store clerk had more enthusiasm than Aya as she distributed the water bottles. Didn't she feel any of the sadness present here? It was so thick you could cut it with a knife. And the way she passed by that kid that looked on the verge of tears...even Ensign Badgiruel had shown some compassion when she handed a crying kid her cap.

"Miss Melanthos, could you try smiling a bit?," he said trying to sound as serious as he could when she approached, "You know, to _cheer_ them up as you hand them supplies."

"I am," Aya said flatly, "This is my smiley face."

Kira honestly couldn't tell the difference between her regular expression and the current one.

"Hey, you two!" Lieutenant La Flaga called, "Are you done on that side?"

"Almost." Aya answered.

"Here," She handed a water bottle to Kira, surprising him, "That's the last one."

They stood there in silence for a few minutes. As he downed the drink, he noticed that Aya had nothing to drink for herself. He was going to offer her a sip but there was something more pressing right now.

"This is what Cagalli was talking about earlier," Kira said sadly as he surveyed the scene playing out in front of him, "When weapons of war like mobile suits are created only the innocent suffer."

What the- Did she just roll her eyes?

"You could also interpret this to mean that without sufficient force to protect yourselves, those with weapons can do whatever they want to you." Aya countered, "Remember what I said earlier when aggressive neighbors come knocking?"

Before Kira could retort, Mu La Flaga came over to them with a troubled expression.

"Something the matter Lieutenant?" Aya asked.

"Yeah," the Alliance pilot responded. "They're talking about going after the ZAFT raiders."

"What?!" Kira exclaimed in horror, "They'll get themselves killed!"

"They're going to avenge their town and their lost loved ones!" came a familiar voice.

"Oh no." Aya mumbled.

Cagalli stomped over towards them, seemingly in a perpetual angry state.

"Maybe you should try to calm them down a bit," Mu suggested, "Tanks and planes are no match for mobile suits and you guys are using handheld weapons and civilian vehicles!"

Ledonir Kisaka moved up quietly behind Cagalli and assumed a rested position. Aya couldn't believe that the bodyguard simply allowed Cagalli to do whatever she wanted. The blonde really was a princess in every sense of the word. Except being effeminate.

"We have our spirit and righteousness on our side!" came an unfamiliar voice.

A brown haired young man ran up to Cagalli while hefting a rocket launcher on his shoulders.

"There you are Ahmed!" Cagalli looked like she brightened up a little at the appearance of the young man. A chill ran up her spine as suspicions formed in her mind.

"Here." He handed Cagalli the rocket launcher confirming Aya's worst fears.

"We're not here to ask the Archangel for help," Cagalli said, balancing the weapon, "We have our pride too. But I will ask you to take care of the people until we get back."

"Well, the ship has a schedule to keep," Aya smiled coldly at the blonde, "It can't wait forever with you being dead and all."

"Why you b-!"

A vehicle pulled up roughly beside the group kicking up sand.

"Cagalli! Hop in!" Ahmed called.

"You're not going anywhere!" Aya snapped at the freedom fighter, "And neither is she!"

Without hesitation Cagalli jumped in, with Kisaka following dutifully behind. Within moments after arriving the vehicle sped away to join the small group of vengeful guerrillas already ahead.

For her part Aya was left standing in the dust seemingly frozen at the display of bullheadedness.

"Should we help them?" Kira asked looking at Aya's petrified form.

"If we head out we just might make it." Mu confirmed, "We need those people as guides if we're going to circumvent ZAFT territory."

* * *

~ Desert, Andrew Waltfeld ~

Commander Waltfeld had ordered the group to maintain a steady pace back towards their base. They couldn't look like they were some sort of bandit group pillaging a town by running away as fast as they could. They had a reputation to keep. Now, he only hoped the rebels would wise up and not interfere with his operations in the near future.

"Dust cloud behind us commander," drawled a pilot, "Maybe ten, a dozen vehicles at most. No aircraft or mobile suits detected."

Guess not.

"Take care of them," He instructed from within the BuCue Reconnaissance, "Try not to kill anyone, but don't risk yourselves if push comes to shove."

A chorus of affirmations rang out as three BuCues peeled away from the raiding force.

"Looks like they didn't get the message Andy," Aisha said sultrily as her own orange BuCue P-mod pulled up alongside his mobile suit.

"I don't know anymore!" Andrew complained back, "I'm at my wits end of trying to be nice here."

"Should I step up too?"

"No, they'll just target you and end up a stain on the desert floor. Give 'em a chance to survive." Andrew leaned forward of the double-seater cockpit, "Hey! Martin! Keep an eye out for additional enemies."

"You think those Alliance mobile suits will show up sir?" DaCosta asked doubtfully.

"Just a feeling."

* * *

~ Desert, Cagalli ~

"Ahmed! Ahmed!" Cagalli screamed as the body of her friend was vaporized by the energy blade.

One moment they were taking aim at a BuCue's relatively unarmored underside, the next they were thrown off the vehicle when the driver veered sharply to the side to avoid a sweeping "paw" of the mobile suit.

Ahmed had rolled as he fell, landing on his feet in a crouch and took aim with the launcher. The BuCue had noticed him and ignited the beam sabers on the side of its head and in sweeping motion erased Cagalli's friend. The launcher's missile exploded due to the enormous heat generated by the weapon. As if to mock the final moments of her friend the smoke cleared to reveal the BuCue only suffered some mild damage from the explosion, giving its head a "scar" but was otherwise undamaged.

Cagalli fell to her knees on the ground in shock, not seeming to care that the mobile suit noticed her or took a thunderous step towards her direction. As the unit's anti-personnel machine gun on its wing angled for a shot the mobile suit suddenly looked upwards and pulled back on its treads at full speed.

A shadow descended on the field and the X2A landed between the shocked blonde, Beam Zanber drawn. It turned its head as if confirming that the person behind it was indeed Cagalli.

Then the BuCue struck.

* * *

~ X2A, Aya ~

"There they are!" Aya puffed her cheeks. She'd been flying in the general direction of the freedom fighters but couldn't locate them. It seemed so easy in the show to just arrive despite not knowing where to go. Once she noticed the rising smoke, however, the direction became obvious. Along the way she used her slow pace to adjust her reactions to the sandy environment, a behavior which was standard procedure for all Gunpla Battlers on unfamiliar terrain. Come to think of it, she rarely fought in terrestrial battles back home if given the choice, since she favored the three dimensional freedom offered by space.

"Well, this is bad." She thought, as she observed the clearly one-sided results of the pursuit from the main camera. Vehicles and bodies lay everywhere in varying states. Some were crushed while others were on fire - including the bodies. A similar but different feeling she had felt at the city rose within Aya's chest.

"Please don't let whatever that was back there get in the way here." She prayed silently. If she was distracted at the wrong moment it could be the end of her. She just _had_ to pick the Crossbone out of all the Gunpla on her shelf. A space oriented design with paper-thin armor. Now it was on Earth, in the desert.

Strangely enough, the mobile suit functioned much like Gunplas did in a desert environment. Almost like the internals had automatically adjusted themselves to the best of its physical make.

"Aya!"

She turned the Crossbone to see the Strike and the Aegis approaching in the distance, using short jumping motions.

"I had some trouble with all this sand." The Gunpla Battler lied, "I managed to find a workaround but its a band-aid solution at best."

"Same here," Kira affirmed, "I fine tuned the Strike's response on the way here."

"Show off." Mu said without any real jealousy, "What's the situation?"

"That."

"This is terrible!" Kira gasped in shock as he saw the casualties, "We have to step in! Now!"

"Oh! _Now_ you're motivated!" Aya said snidely, activating the Beam Zanber, "Well, better late than never. Mindless slaughter, here we come!"

The X2A leapt into the air using its large thruster and entered the fray.

* * *

~ Desert, Andrew Waltfeld ~

"Well, well," Andrew mumbled to himself, "Look who decided to join the party. The rebels are definitely helping the Alliance now."

"Is that it?" Aisha asked over the comm.

"Yeah, that's the unknown." he affirmed, Andrew indicated the BuCue, "Who's machine is that?"

"Kirkwood's sir." Martin answered from the front of the cockpit.

Andrew noted that Kirkwood wisely pulled back upon the arrival of the unknown mobile suit and assumed a defensive posture. Though it had its beam saber drawn when the black mobile turned its head as if to confirm the status of rebel it had protected, Kirkwood attacked. The pilot used a combination assault of firing the linear gun on its dorsal while pouncing with his own beam saber. To the surprise of both ZAFT commanders the enemy mobile suit seemed to blur, dodging to the side. It struck the BuCue with the pommel of its beam saber and pushed it away with violent knee attack. The BuCue tumbled in the sand but before it could stop, the enemy snapped up a beam pistol and shot it.

"He pushed Kirkwood away so the explosion wouldn't harm that rebel." Andrew realized.

"That reaction time...a coordinator?" Aisha mused out loud, excitement creeping into her voice.

"Most likely." Andrew agreed as two new contacts appeared on the radar. They were mobile suits.

"We'll have to step in Ai, can't lose anymore BuCues. Besides, this is direct payback now."

"Its been a while since we danced Andy." Aisha laughed.

"Not long enough," Andrew said, remembering the last time Aisha cut loose, "Hold on Martin, I'll be gunning it."

"Nothing too fancy now sir." His aide said while simultaneously securing his safety harness.

The Reconnaissance BuCue, as its name implied, was used primarily for scouting. However, unlike most reconnaissance units the BuCue frame was, by nature, versatile and so ZAFT engineers incorporated two new beam cannons with one at each side of the radome dish and beam sabers on the head which was now standard of the regular BuCue. It also had one more feature that would be of use in this battle.

" _Lesseps_ , this is commander Waltfeld," He radioed, "Laser designator active, solid shells only."

"This is _Lesseps_ ," A voice crackled a few moments later, "Loading shells. Friendlies still in the area. Over."

"They'll be advised, Over."

"...Copy commander. Shells away."

"Attention all units!" Andrew keyed in while simultaneously revealing the anticipated impact points, "Fire support incoming. Avoid closing with the enemy. That goes for you too Aisha."

"Lets see how your mobile suits hold up when they're not _mobile_."

The BuCue opened fire as one, their aim designed to limit the movement of the enemy rather than damage them.

Two of the Alliance machines hesitated, then moved away from their positions. Moments later, the artillery rounds impacted uselessly on empty space, the Alliance machines too far for even the explosive shrapnel to hit. Even the rebels were now clear of the area thanks to their interference.

"What the- how could they have known?!" Martin exclaimed in surprise.

"We'll have to try again," Andrew mused, "Hmm?"

The black mobile suit had tilted its head and gave an emphasizing gesture with its free hand to the Aegis.

"Could he have spotted the incoming shells? Is he the enemy commander?" He asked himself.

The Aegis responded by lifting itself into the air and transforming into its mobile armor mode. It spread its "limbs" and fired its Scylla Cannon into the air. Then, turning laboriously due to being in the atmosphere, it swept the skies and the next wave of artillery shells exploded in the air. Another explosion blossomed, but this time it was BuCue. The ZAFT and Alliance pilots were distracted by the interception of the shells and the black mobile suit took the opportunity to shoot one of the opposition.

"Your tactic's not working Andy," Aisha growled over the comm, "So let's do this my way! You two with me!"

"She has a point," Andrew admitted.

* * *

~ BuCue P-mod, Aisha ~

Adrenaline pumped through Aisha's veins as her machine surged through the sand. These enemy mobile suits were everything that the report said and more. Finally! A worthy opponent!

The custom BuCue's turret swiveled and fired a barrage of bullets at the descending Aegis that was recovering from firing its cannon. The Strike, the white machine, flew in front of the re-captured mobile suit and blocked the attack with its shield.

"Missiles." She commanded, settling into her cold battle mentality.

The BuCue to the right complied and sent a wave towards the two.

Unlike Andrew's plan, the projectiles actually scored a hit. Several in fact. Aisha's genetically enhanced brain, combined with her own affinity for battles, had forged a plan in matter of moments. While on paper ZAFT machines were at a disadvantage due to sporting solid shell weaponry, Aisha theorized that the Phase Shift system as revealed in the report reacted to a certain type of physical attack indiscriminately. This meant that even if the attack was not sufficiently fatal the system would still consume the necessary energy to deflect it and thus it could be overwhelmed. The end result was that since the system drew power from the mobile suit's reactor the machine would would shut down, making it an easy kill. That was the major disadvantage of drawing power from a single source to power three systems in the mobile suit.

The two machines held their ground and fired retaliatory shots at the BuCues strafing them but their lack of mobility made their trajectories predictable. All the while, the wolf-like mobile suits continued to pound them with railgun rounds and rockets.

"Damn, this guy's good!" She heard Andrew over the comm.

She turned to see the remaining BuCue and Andy trying to hit the black machine, but it seemed improbable. The short mobile suit jinked sideways continuously presenting an unpredictable target. Just when it was about to be caught in the apex of its turn it spun, dragging a foot in the sand and kicking up dust. The show caused the two BuCues to hesitate while the mobile suit completed its turn and was angling for a better shot. Its movements almost seemed...human.

Andrew, however, was fairly skilled as a pilot as well and fired a leading shot. This time it was aimed at the spot where the unit would land since it utilized a hopping motion to move on the sand, the human like frame unsuited for desert warfare. The unit reversed itself but at a cost. Now, it tumbled into a roll and Aisha winced in anticipated emphatic pain as the roll would effectively snap the large thrusters on its back. Or so she thought.

Instead, the large boosters collapsed _backwards_ , perpendicular to the mobile suit, as the unit landed on the desert floor avoiding the catastrophic fate. Using the momentum of the roll, the thrusters on the unit's body flared and lifted it off the ground and fired off a shot with its beam pistol as it completed the roll in mid-air.

The beam hit Andy's companion and the mobile suit went up in flames.

"Very good." She admitted, "I wonder what kind of man he is outside the cockpit?"

"Aisha, switch!" Andrew said tersely.

"Well, I'll find out," She said to herself as her BuCue raced towards the enemy, "After I pry you from the cockpit with these fangs!"

* * *

~ X2A, Aya ~

"Spread out!" Aya transmitted to Kira and Mu, "Now!"

"What?" "Why?" Both of the pilots asked bewildered.

Being a veteran soldier, however, Mu didn't wait for an explanation and recognizing Aya's urgent tone boosted in a random direction. Kira followed suit a full second later, reacting just as fast by reason of being the "ultimate" coordinator.

Seconds later the spot they were on, as well as other areas, exploded as artillery rained from the skies.

How she detected it was equally surprising. A red circle appeared below the spot the Strike and the Aegis occupied. Unlike the Newtype "lines" she was accustomed to, however, the circle was not clean cut. It writhed like hundreds of living creatures were swimming under a red pool and it simply felt _wrong_. In hindsight, it was no wonder the BuCues didn't attack them in close quarters but without the Newtype abilities granted by the transition she would have never suspected that the Desert Tiger had called down artillery. To make matters worse, more of the disturbing circles appeared indicating a second salvo.

She broadcasted this new information to the other two. Kira made snap calculations only a coordinator could have done and indicated their trajectory and possible landing sites. They were spot on the areas Aya's abilities had revealed. To the redhead's surprise Mu asked for the data, a few moments later the Aegis took to the air, transformed and blasted the shells out of the sky. Aya had forgotten that Mu possessed spatial awareness in the show. Now, with the bombardment plan no longer viable the two sides clashed in the traditional way.

The black BuCue (Aya couldn't remember the name type), was tough. It wasn't there in the show and its pilot was a pretty crafty fighter but he wasn't the problem. Andrew Waltfeld was.

The orange BuCue looked different from what she remembered but since this was supposed to be the real-life version of SEED some things didn't surprise her such the slightly more primitive design or the giant gatling cannon mounted on its dorsal alongside a railgun. What surprised her was how Andrew fought. The BuCue leapt, accelerated and boosted at excitable levels, making it difficult to target. Furthermore the simple, swiveling turret on its back allowed to fire with impunity at absurd angles unlike the slight but noticeable disorientation a pilot would have when operating a humanoid mobile suit. It reminded her of the mid-level World Championship where fights would begin to heat up!

Losing her beam cannon irked Aya greatly since her options were now limited. She evaded randomly, while taking any shots she felt were worth connecting but the BuCue was in its element, the Crossbone was not. Any incoming shots were dodged expertly and the return fire was often too close for comfort.

"Damn, gotta switch tactics," She thought as she manipulated the Plavsky controls.

When the orange BuCue came close enough, the Crossbone's front skirts angled up, extended and shot outwards. The unexpected feature caught the Desert Tiger off guard and maneuvered away but the Scissor Anchors had already latched on to its gatling cannon, limiting its movement at the same time. No matter how much the BuCue P-mod swerved, the Crossbone was secure and the violent motions stopped when its numerous thrusters stabilized it. Like a kite, the unit glided behind the BuCue and extended its beam brand. The focused beam extended and Aya prepared to ram it onto the BuCue's back.

 _"Don't underestimate me!"_ An angry female voice yelled in Aya's head.

The momentary distraction allowed the BuCue to jettison its giant gatling cannon, freeing it from the Crossbone's grip. It turned and leveled it remaining weapon on Aya before the air erupted. The _Lesseps_ had delivered some sort of ECM missile. Static filled the Crossbone's panoramic cockpit, and through the blur the ZAFT survivors retreated. Andrew Waltfeld had ordered a retreat. Just like in the show.

Aya landed the Crossbone near the Strike and the Aegis and saw that they had suffered some mild damage. The Aegis was slightly more scuffed and its shield was all but melted due to beam shots from the black BuCue but considering that Lieutenant La Flaga was still new at this, it showed how much talent he had.

* * *

~ Desert, Kira Yamato ~

The three machines touched down where the Desert Dawn survivors gathered. The wounded lay in stretchers and cried out pitifully in pain while those lucky enough to be relatively unhurt slumped on whatever they could find. Cagalli was in a corner, crying over a burned scarf. The only thing that was left of Ahmed.

Kira and Mu had exited the Strike and the Aegis and helped out however they could. Just like in the outskirts of the city earlier, Aya didn't exit the Crossbone without a prompting. Kira had told her of their plans, hoping she'd take the hint and help out. When her image came on the screen he instead became disgusted when he saw Aya's face was flushed and her voice actually sounded _excited_ from the fight. She gave noncommittal answer but never came down, making it clear what her choice was.

"You SEE?!" Cagalli yelled, as the two pilots approached, "This is how terrible war is!"

Kira's mind almost made him say that they went after mobile suits with nothing but feelings, however, what Aya said suddenly made sense though he would never admit it out loud. He knelt down in front of Cagalli and slowly took her hands into his own. The movement caused Cagalli to look at him with teary, sorrow filled eyes that almost made him cry as well.

"What you did wasn't wrong but sometimes spirit isn't enough," he whispered, "Sometimes, to protect the ones we care for, we must do terrible things and use terrible things." He worded it as neutrally as he could.

A moment passed before Cagalli broke down and cried. She pulled him into a hug and the surprised teen returned it as best as he could.

He looked up to see the rays of the morning sun illuminate the desert, giving it a pure, unsullied look. There, to the side, standing apart from the other machines was the Crossbone Gundam, staring into the distance, seemingly uncaring of the misery around it.

* * *

Author's note:

I present to you - Chapter 9! This chapter contained more action than normal since the next one will be a bit more on the talkative side. As I mentioned in the previous chapter, I wanted to give Aisha a more distinct personality and this is my attempt in that regard. On another note, Aya's Newtype powers are blossoming here though only time will tell on how it will affect her.

The artillery feature of the BuCue recon was sort of an inspiration by my (still pending as of the moment) review/critique on Iron Blooded Orphans. Just like how there seems to be _no aircraft_ in IBO, I often wondered why no artillery was used in this particular segment. When they do use artillery its normally of the missile variety and often shot down rather easily, I mean I've never heard of artillery shell being intercepted before. Regarding that, the Aegis' attack patterns here are based on the video games when on a terrestrial field. Take your pick. Its "sweeping" the skies with its beam cannon to intercept the shells is a little bit fanciful but we need some cool stuff every now and then.

The BuCue recon and the P-mod fighting together (black and orange) unintentionally evoked the tiger theme by the time I was done with this chapter which was a bit amusing.

Also, regarding the mysterious mobile suit I previously hinted at later in the story some of you (through sheer volume of fire) managed to identify two of its weapons, though one of them is only temporary due that arc's technological limitations. It will be piloted by the true big bad, which isn't Le Crueset or Patrick Zala or Azrael.

Also Aya will get her own "mid-season" upgrade. Just like the big bad's mobile suit, its not very well known and has no gunpla release, including SD or even a scratch build. I checked the internet.

Anyway, you know what part of the story is coming next. Hopefully it will be the last chapter in the desert arc.

Until next time.


	10. Chapter 10: Behind The Curtains

**I do not own Gundam Build Fighters/Try or any of the Gundam franchise.**

 **This story is inspired by Eyes in SEED authored by Nemesis Astrea and is written with his permission.**

* * *

CHAPTER 10:

Behind The Curtains

* * *

~ PLANTS, Clyne Residence ~

The warm, late afternoon light filtered into the room through a window strategically positioned to give the room the maximum amount of light without directly hitting any of its occupants. Rhythmic clicks could be heard from a corner as Lacus impatiently pressed a button on her computer whenever something appeared that didn't quite meet her requirements. Her normally serene face wore her scorn openly as the images flashed by.

 _High Maneuver GINN_

"Useless in the atmosphere."

 _DINN_

"Way too specialized."

 _LaGowe_

"We all know how that's going to turn out."

In the end she was left with with only either aquatic mobile suits or the CGUE. The GUAIZ prototypes were out of the question as they could barely move without something popping off.

"Urgh! Fine," She said resignedly, "CGUE DEEP Arms it is then."

A second screen showed footage from the residence's security camera's. Athrun stumbled on the front porch, a bouquet of roses in hand, obviously attempting to make up for the lost time. Lacus' nose wrinkled in disapproval.

Late. Again.

"Oh wait!" She exclaimed as she quickly typed on the computer before locking it, "Make it red."

Color coding was convenient whenever she observed the after-action footage.

She pushed herself away from the table and rose to meet her fiancee. The Haros, all laying motionlessly on the floor suddenly bounced and emitted happy sounds.

"Not yet!" She snapped. The robots obeyed and dropped to the floor. As she walked past them they rolled noiselessly after her.

After the fourth Haro she decided she had had enough and reprogrammed them. She briefly suspected Athrun didn't like her at first and gave her the Haros to drive her crazy in order break off the marriage.

Well, too late for that.

Now they meekly followed her by rolling whenever she was alone. Soon after, the simple act of reprogramming gave her the inspiration to install the ECM devices inside them. So far she didn't need them but one could never be too careful.

"L-Lacus!" Athrun sputtered, "Sorry, I'm late again I was-"

"I wasn't counting the minutes Athrun," Lacus smiled gently.

* * *

~ Desert, Archangel ~

"Why are you looking at me that way?!" Mu said backing away defensively as Murrue and Natarle stared at him.

"Your answer Lieutenant?" Murrue demanded.

"I gave advice one time and now I'm suddenly an expert?" Mu asked.

"I recall more than one incident." Natarle unhelpfully provided.

The issue at hand was about the Martian Pilot. Aya.

"Why couldn't I be born in another time?" The pilot groaned internally.

\- 0 -

 _"Wow! Look at her score!" Tolle exclaimed as Cagalli beat her own score for the second time in the hour._

 _The Heliopolis teens were clustered around the Skygrasper simulator. Sai and Kira stood in the back while Kuzzy, Tolle and Mirallia leaned in for a better look._

 _Flay was nowhere to be found. Probably spending time with her father._

 _Ever since the disastrous battle against the Desert Tiger, Cagalli insisted on piloting one of the planes in the hanger arguing that they fare much better with a third gun out on the field, intentionally omitting the unpredictable X2A Crossbone from the head count._

 _Kira looked at Aya who was leaning against a wall, silently observing them. By now he'd gotten used to her expressionless look and instead focused on her blue eyes. It looked like she was waiting for something._

 _"I want a go too!" Tolle declared, "You guys need all the help you can get out there! We're usually outnumbered."_

 _The mood turned a bit somber at the last part as it reminded them of their predicament._

 _Tolle strapped himself in and started the simulation. He lasted seven seconds._

 _Several minutes passed as Cagalli, and occasionally Kira gave pointers to Tolle. His score improved steadily and soon only unexpected encounters did him in. Now they were going to move on to the shooting phase._

 _Just then Kira noticed movement and saw that Aya had detached herself from the wall and was headed their way._

 _"Maybe she's going to give pointers too." He thought._

 _The redhead bent down and pulled a thick wire._

 _"Hey!" Tolle exclaimed in surprise as he stuck his head out. The simulator had shut down._

 _"Aya! What gives?!"_

 _"This." Aya held up the wire like the limp tentacle of a sea creature, "Quite easily, I might add."_

 _"Why?!" Tolle whined, "I was moving on to the next phase!"_

 _"Stay on the bridge," She replied, "Its safer there."_

 _"But I want to help you guys out!" Tolle said._

 _"You can't." The Martian replied in her emotionless voice, "You're not meant to be on the battlefield."_

 _"The lieutenant is a career soldier," She looked right at Kira, "and he's getting used to it."_

 _The teen took a step back in shock at the assessment, mercifully no one seemed to notice._

 _"As for me," her voice wavered, "Its the only thing I'm good for in this world."_

 _"Well, its not like I'm going to dive in-" Tolle tried once again._

 _"Have you ever been shot at?" Aya cut in._

 _"Back at Heliopolis." Sai answered with a partially raised hand._

 _"I don't think they were actually shooting at us in particular." Kuzzy thought out loud._

 _"Oh! Good!" Aya exclaimed brightly, "So you_ do _know its not a fun experience!"_

 _"Bitch!" Cagalli exploded as she stomped over to Aya._

 _Kira tensed himself. It looked like a fight was going to erupt._

 _"He's going to fight for his friends and loved ones!" Cagalli roared in front of Aya, who was as affected as a wall._

 _"And this is your advice?! Stay inside?!"_

 _"First you say fighting is bad," Aya answered, "And now you're encouraging them to fight? Which is it? Make up your mind. Are you willing to take responsibility if they get shot down?"_

 _Aya walked past Cagalli who was speechless with rage._

 _"Stop being reckless."_

* * *

~ Archangel, Bridge ~

"So, that's what happened," Mu finished his story, "They're just kids after all, if being subjected constant combat can unhinge trained soldiers, how much more for them? I mean, the way Chief Murdock said it those two were almost at each other's throats."

"So what I recommend is, we give 'em a day in the city," He continued, "If that seems a tad bit too irresponsible then we can have them buy some minor supplies to keep them from directionless wandering."

The blonde man crossed his arms as he waited on his fellow officer's response to his recommendation. It annoyed him that they acted like dealing with teenagers was an alien concept.

Murrue and Natarle looked at each for a moment.

"I agree with your proposal," Murrue said, "We were planning on going out to purchase ammunition from a black market dealer anyway."

"Also," the acting captain added with a smile, "Since you're so good at dealing with teenagers, you'll be the one to break the news to miss Melanthos."

"What?" Mu spluttered, completely forgetting decorum. Not that he paid much attention to it anyway.

"What do you mean?" He asked recovering, "What about Ensign Badgiruel? She's good with them too."

"Despite your overly negative opinion of me," Natarle said, her voice ever controlled, "I simply gave that child my hat and some chocolate. I didn't speak to him at all."

"Why are you so nervous?" Murrue asked, boxing him in, "She seems to respect you at the very least."

* * *

~ PLANTS, Clyne Residence ~

"Sorry about not spending enough time with you," Athrun apologized for the fourth time that afternoon, "But I'm-"

"-Scheduled to deploy in a few hours. I know. I know." Lacus finished while nodding her head sagely. Internally though, she was getting tired of the repeated apologies. It was as if she was deaf or brain damaged to Athrun.

"The fact that you came over made me very happy nonetheless." She spoke her pre-loaded line.

Athrun was at a loss for words so he decided that his actions would better express himself. So he leaned over slowly to give her a kiss.

Lacus turned her head away, absolutely rejecting it.

"S-Sorry" Athrun blurted out with embarrassment, "I didn't-"

His blubbering was cut off when Lacus' hand grabbed his collar and pulled him roughly into a kiss. The action stunned him to the point that his blood seemed to drain from his head and a moment later rush back up.

Lacus released him from the kiss after what appeared to be several seconds while wearing the same gentle smile she always wore.

"If I find out you cheated on me on Earth," She said still smiling, "I'll shove a Haro down your throat."

Athrun, who had blanked out for a few seconds because of the kiss, finally laughed with Lacus joining in. He couldn't really picture her doing anything violent.

"Don't worry about that," He chuckled now that the awkward moment had passed, "Now, I'll have an extra reason to come back in a hurry."

"And I'll be waiting." She said.

An hour after Athrun left, Lacus gathered her things and left the mansion for the next task of the day.

\- 0 -

The sheets moved as the occupant shifted position underneath, vainly trying to find a semblance of comfortability.

The residence itself was quite modest, offering nothing luxurious despite what most people would be shown on television befitting the rank of the owner. The first reason was that being in the military, or the militia that was ZAFT to be accurate, did not pay all that much. The second reason was that it was intended merely as a place to sleep and eat, offering much needed privacy that a barracks or even a hotel could not furnish as well as some form of dignity. The third, and rarely spoken of reason, was that soldiers lived very short lives in these uncertain times. Death came for Natural and Coordinator alike.

However, no amount of opulence, even if furnished, would help its owner.

An unbearable pain flared once more resulting in the bed's occupant falling to the floor, spasming uncontrollably.

Le Creuset reached blindly over the desk, desperately searching for the suppressant pills Durandal gave him regularly.

 _WHERE ARE THEY?!_

Even though he had conditioned himself never to voice his thoughts, because of the sheer amount of pain he couldn't even yell out willingly. He stuck his head his head out from under the sheets to search the desk and found them...gone.

Just then he noticed a shadow near the door of the room.

Lacus stood there holding up the pill container and studying it curiously, as if she didn't already know what his body was going through.

"Oh? Did I wake you commander?" She asked in her melodious voice.

"You." He ground out, casting her a baleful glare for all it was worth.

"Yes." Lacus smiled, "Thank you for reminding me. I almost forgot who I am for a moment there."

"Here." She placed a data device on the desk that his pills used to occupy, "Everything is listed there. All you need to do is request it in your name like always and it will be approved."

When he didn't answer she strode over to him, grabbed him by the throat and lifted him into the air.

"Didn't you hear me?" Lacus inquired gently.

Lacus Clyne was a Coordinator, physically granted everything a person could wish for while Le Creuset was secretly a Natural and clone to boot, already in the stages of cellular degeneration. If she wished to she could beat him to an inch of his life even on his best day, but that wasn't her approach to things. Lacus Clyne was far too cunning and careful to leave any sort of physical evidence behind no matter how circumstantial. At times she almost seemed prescient.

As he suffocated Le Creuset stared into her eyes finding the warm and caring expression she always had in public gone. The expression she now wore, whenever Lacus spoke to him in private, conveyed something utterly alien. It was almost like she wasn't even from this world. Lacus Clyne was never really the same after the assassination attempt on Earth years ago, but saying it like that was severely underplaying the change in personality of the Clyne girl.

"Yes..." He gasped out.

"Good." She dropped him as a graceless heap on the floor.

As Lacus turned to leave, Le Creuset saw a yellow ball-like thing roll into view and seemingly stare at him from his position on the floor.

It was a Haro.

Le Creuset had seen Athrun tinker with such things on more than one occasion during his free time, intending to gift them to Lacus. Now, the pink haired singer had apparently reprogrammed them into autonomous hacking devices. No doubt his security cameras and their recordings were an unreadable mess as was the case whenever she dropped by, never mind the electronic lock on his front door.

And she had more than one.

"Oh! How careless of me!" Lacus exclaimed as an afterthought.

She placed the container of pills on the floor. It was well out of reach of Le Creuset.

"Don't forget your medication~~"

\- 0 -

After she left, and several agonizing moments of undignified crawling, Le Creuset swallowed a pill and waited for their effects to take place. As the pain subsided he began to chuckle maniacally.

Le Creuset tolerated the ignominies the Clyne girl subjected him to because she had revealed her own plan after she had brazenly disclosed his own to him. Whether or not his plan would fail, Lacus' own would continue it, though at a much slower pace regardless of her actual intent. While Lacus stated that no one would believe him if ever he divulged her plan, Le Creuset would be lucky to be simply lynched if ever his machinations would be "mysteriously" revealed to the council and the public at large. She had him pinned, or at least she thought she did.

"Keep up that arrogance of yours little girl." Rau giggled madly, "One often meets their destiny on the road they take to avoid it."

He drew strength from this particular insight of his unwitting collaborator and helped ease the pain considerably.

Poor Athrun. Poor, naive Athrun.

When Patrick Zala called to excitedly inform him that Operation Spitbreak was approved, it was icing on the cake.

"I should make these wishes more often."

~ Banadiya City, Kira Yamato ~

"We'll meet here at the designated time," Mu reminded the trio as they hopped off the vehicle, "Got it guys?"

"Yeah, sure." Cagalli muttered, not all that pleased to have been in the same vehicle as Aya.

Aya nodded gloomily in response, while Kira didn't seem to hear him as he was staring into space.

"Geez, I hope they won't start a fight in public." Mu prayed silently as they drove away.

Earlier on, in the presence of Murrue and Natarle, when he told her of their plan to give them a day off he expected her to be happy or at least curious as to Earth towns in general. What he did not expect was for her to vehemently oppose her leaving the ship. Mu couldn't remember all the reasons she had said but it was safe to say it was everything. Period.

\- 0 -

 _Mindless slaughter here we come!_

 _He's getting used to it._

 _It's the only thing I'm good at in this world._

Kira felt someone slap him on the back, jostling him out of his thoughts.

"Hey! Snap out of it!" Cagalli said, "Come on, let's get this over with."

"R-right." He mumbled still a bit absent minded.

Cagalli walked past him and began to head in the direction of the places where they were suppose to buy supplies.

"Stay close, only Cagalli knows the way." Kira said to Aya, seeing as Cagalli made no move to talk to her since the hanger incident.

Aya mumbled something in response but followed him anyway. For the occasion she wore a black shirt over blue cargo pants as well as boots. She also wore boots and wore her reddish orange hair freely making her relatively easy to spot in the crowd. The jacket she also brought along was open and Kira could see the shirt was just a bit too-

Aya turned to him with a frosty glare, seemingly sensing his attention.

 _Stupid hormones!_

"Its a lot more lively than I thought." Kira remarked, punching the proverbial eject button hard.

"That's only on the surface." Cagalli said, probably mistaking the question to be directed at her.

She turned suddenly and the two sped up to keep pace. Finally she stopped in front of what used to be a building. It was now just a giant crater. The former structure was leveled to its foundations and no one had bothered to even cordon the hazard it now posed.

"This is what happens if you oppose the Desert Tiger." She said gesturing towards the crater.

Kira checked Aya's response and saw that her lips had curled up, as if she expected this to happen. She probably did.

"Then they shouldn't have done so," Aya said giving Cagalli a look, "Especially for an imagined slight."

"That's it! I've had it with you!" Cagalli exploded.

Kira restrained her and thanked the small mercy that Aya didn't move from her place. He wasn't sure if he could restrain both of them.

"What did he do anyway?" Aya asked, "Other than roll into town after driving away the Alliance forces stationed here of course."

"Please stop provoking her." Kira pleaded internally. He honestly didn't want to get involved or visibly take sides in the brewing animosity between the two females so he just did his best by preventing Cagalli from jumping Aya by holding her.

"You! You could never understand!" Cagalli, "You're from-"

"Not from around here. I know." Aya interrupted, "Do you Earthnoids respond to harmless questions by punching people in the face?"

Unnoticed by the trio, a man with a pencil mustache and forked goatee peeked over his newspaper with interest as he heard the argument escalate.

Somehow Kira had managed to calm Cagalli down and they resumed making their way to the market.

"Go get us lunch!" Cagalli pointed imperiously in another direction. A far away direction.

"This is going to take a while."

Cagalli locked hands with Kira and dragged the surprised teen away. Kira turned to see Aya's receding form.

"Wait!" He tried reasoning with Cagalli, "Are you sure she's going to be alright?"

"She can take care of herself!" Cagalli answered loudly.

\- 0 -

The nearby crowd saw the entire incident.

And completely mistook it for what it was.

Several young men looked enviously at Kira who was being pulled away by apparently the more aggressive one of two women. While both were fairly attractive in their own right, the one with reddish-orange hair seemed more feminine in contrast to the blonde who was loud and tomboyish to the extreme. The younger women were also astounded at the brashness of the blonde as they had an "o" expression on their faces as she had pulled off a victory along with the young boy away hand in hand. Gossip would abound that day in their circles as well as bets as to who would win over the young man. The most favored odds was 3:7.

Smoldering from the apparent defeat the redhead turned angrily and marched off. The crowd, still under its mistaken impression, gave her a sympathetically wide berth. Some even shouted encouragement at her to try harder.

Aya felt a bit light as she walked through the crowd, too wrapped up in her thoughts to notice their attention on her. She was feeling weird again. It wasn't the same constricting feeling she had felt back in Tassil, but rather something else. Almost like someone was being amused at her expense.

Probably Cagalli.

She was annoying in the show and she was even more annoying in real life.

"What the hell?" She thought angrily, "I was just asking a question!"

It was never really explained in the show why the Desert Dawn fought Andrew Waltfeld so she thought she'd find out why. Instead Cagalli blew up for reasons only known to the Orb princess and even tried to attack her. Good thing Kira stopped her otherwise Aya would have done something...mean to her.

Wait.

Aya froze in place.

The way Kira seemed to be a little too close to Cagalli, or the way the blonde princess grabbed his hand like that.

"No. No. No. No." Aya repeated to herself. She in very real danger of projectile vomiting.

Kira was a hormonal teenager, as was established by the show. Earlier on she had caught him staring at her chest. Aya also realized that Flay and Sai never broke up due to her intervention. It showed since they were pretty close during dinner time. If things went on like this...

"There isn't going to be any twincest while I'm around!" She raged internally as she continued to walk.

She'd have to contrive someway to get Kira to back off. Hmmm...maybe if it was somehow outed that Cagalli was Orb's princess. Yes! That was it!

Once he knew, Aya was sure Kira would lose interest. After all, he was way too meek to try anything with Flay to begin with. Aya's mood greatly improved, pleased that she could prevent squick from happening in the behind her back.

"Come on! Pick up damn you! Why are you always like-!" A voice hissed at her phone and was cut off as the owner bumped into Aya.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry," A feminine voice apologized.

Aya looked up to see a woman wearing a desert cloak and the corresponding headwear. From what little Aya could see from behind the cloth and large aviator sunglasses she had a fair complexion and midnight black hair.

"No worries." Aya quickly accepted the apology, "To tell you the truth, I was not looking as well."

"Yes, well its just that someone is making my job nearly impossible to do." The woman tilted her head sideways, "Are you new here?"

"I just arrived," Aya said and suddenly thought of something.

"Do you happen to know a place where I can eat? As I said, I'm new here."

During her walk Aya realized something. She couldn't read the foreign language. Due to some strange quirk of the transition she could understand what most people said but she could'n't read the middle-eastern language on the signs.

"I'll take you there," The woman offered, "It'll be good to help someone for a change, unlike _some people_ who actively avoid it!"

She shook her phone angrily, behaving like she wanted to strangle whoever she had tried to reach earlier.

Minutes later they arrived at an outdoor restaurant and ordered something called a Kebab. After Aya paid for it with the money Mu had given her, she bit into it. The spicy sauce was good but a bit too much for her as it buried the taste of the other ingredients.

"Here try this." Noticing Aya's expression, the woman offered Aya another container, "Its Tzatziki sauce."

Aya tried it, and found that it was much better. Rather than smother the ingredients, the Tzatziki sauce seemed to enhance the overall flavor.

"It _is_ good." Aya admitted with a smile.

"Fufu, you have good taste!" The woman exclaimed happily as she bit into her own meal.

They ate in silence and a few minutes later, the woman left after paying for herself. Probably to get back to whatever she was doing earlier. The sun traveled slowly overhead as Aya watched the crowd pass by for some time, attempting to get a feel of the first city she visited in Cosmic Era.

"Hey!" a familiar grating voice called out.

Aya turned to see Cagalli with Kira in tow walk up to her table.

"You ate ahead of us?!" Cagalli asked in indignation, noticing the discarded wrappers.

"I wasn't under the impression that I had an obligation to wait," Aya smiled cooly, "You did say it would take a while."

"I'm surprised you didn't get lost," Cagalli said, "Let alone be able to read the menu."

Aya shrugged, not rising to the bait. She wasn't even sure if Cagalli was still mad at her. The blonde always sounded angry.

Kira slumped on the seat without an invitation, breathing heavily. Cagalli had, for all intents and purposes, treated him like a pack mule by making him carry all but one of the bags.

"Geez! Are you guys for real?!" Cagalli complained waiving a piece of paper in the air, "You can't find any of these lotions or shampoos here! Never mind video games!"

Earlier on, Flay had approached Aya and mumbled something about how her hair looked great. After the awkward delivery, she asked Aya to buy some of her lotions and other "necessities" since she couldn't find Kira. Sai couldn't go because George Allster had expressly forbidden him. Aya took the paper, made a non-commitant answer and stuffed it in the small bag that housed the actual list Captain Ramius had given them without a word.

"I mean, do guys really know the sit-" Cagalli's voice droned on and Aya ordered something as a distraction. Anything was better than listening to the Orb Princess' ramble. She was probably just hungry.

"Thank you for waiting." A waiter placed their orders on the table which was exactly the same type of Kebab Aya had eaten earlier.

"Here." She handed one to Kira who looked starved.

"Thanks." Kira replied as he reached out for his food.

However, before he could touch it Cagalli grabbed it.

"Try it with the spicy sauce!" She said, suddenly less irritable, "Its dee-licious!"

"No, its not." Aya interjected, "Tzatziki is better. Even yoghurt sauce would be better."

"Don't listed to her!" Cagalli growled, "She doesn't know what she's talking about! She'd probably eat it with ketchup!"

Kira seemed to panic at another impending confrontation and looked about for an escape.

"Behold the ultimate coordinator!" Aya thought snidely as Kira struggled (unsuccessfully) to stop Cagalli from filling his Kebab with the sauce, "Does this guy have a spine? Even Alex had more guts than this."

Just as the forced feeding was about to turn terminal a figure suddenly approached their table.

"Hey! This seat taken? No? Thanks." A man with a white shirt, mustache and forked goatee sat down before any of them could answer, "Its a jungle out there."

"Who the hell are you?!" Orb's princess protested.

"Local Authorities." The man responded lazily, "Did you happen to see a robed person come by here?"

Aya pointed in the direction the woman earlier headed for.

"The other direction huh?" The officer mumbled thoughtfully, suddenly becoming less merry. The movement revealed a gun strapped to his body in a holster.

Just then Aya bristled. Due to Cagalli's antics she completely forgotten why she vehemently opposed coming here! Fortunately this man wasn't obviously Andrew Waltfeld, so there was still time to-

"Whoohoo!" The officer cheered, "The opposite direction! I'm free!"

Aya saw a thin red line appear near their table and the world exploded.

* * *

~ Banadiya, Kira Yamato ~

"Why does this keep happening to me?" Kira whined inside the confines of his head.

All he wanted to do was get away from the fighting but it seemed that the universe wasn't content with him fighting inside a cockpit and extended its whims outside.

"Cagalli!" He thought it alarm, some of the initial shock wearing off. He looked around and found her on the ground attempting to rise.

Men in civilian clothes suddenly stormed out of hiding places and began firing even if there were still people around. Some opted for precision fire behind cover while others rushed their direction shooting madly. Others also seemed to emerge from more hidden positions and fired retaliatory shots. They were obviously, however, coordinators as only they could possibly wield such large caliber guns and still aim accurately with them.

"Over here!" the officer called when Kira lifted Cagalli up.

Taking refuge behind the upturned table, which was thicker than it initially appeared, Kira pulled Cagalli between them and protected her as best he he could. Meanwhile, the shooting intensified. A clip dropped next to him as the officer reloaded and emerged to fire a burst before returning to cover.

Movement caught his eye as one of the attackers emerged at an angle from the officer. Kira knew he wasn't on their side due to the murderous hate the man directed towards them as he aimed his rifle.

"Shit! I'm too far away!" Kira realized.

Even with his speed there was no way he could clear the distance before a shot was fired. However, just before the man could fire a figure in a traveling cloak and dark shades stepped up behind him and dragged a combat knife across his neck. The man fell to the ground with disgusting wet gurgling sound as he bled to death. The person, Kira could see it was a woman because of the lipstick, crouched beside them, making the location suddenly crowded.

"Hey! Where's your friend?" the officer asked as he reloaded.

"Aya!" He realized that she was nowhere to be seen.

As Kira peeked over the table he saw that Aya was stumbling, walking as if in a daze...towards the attacker's position.

"She must have been nearer to the blast area!" Kira deduced.

Numerous options raced in his mind and he discarded them just as fast as they emerged. There was no way to cross the street without getting riddled by bullets. It was only by pure luck that Aya hadn't gotten hit by a stray bullet, but even that wouldn't last as she was nearing the cover of two of the enemies.

As if emboldened by the stunned girl, the two emerged from their cover and took aim. Kira ran, no longer hesitant. If he could do something he would or he would regret it for the rest of his life.

The bullets fired, riddling the Martian pilot's body and reducing it to a bloody mess. Or rather, that was what was supposed to happen.

Aya's head suddenly snapped up as if realizing something and she began to move. Fast. Just as the bullets left their barrel Aya was no longer where she stood. She dodged left and right nimbly and quickly cleared the distance. Once she was close enough she leapt up executing a spinning kick, aimed vertically. Her foot crashed onto the gunner's wrist, audibly snapping it. Aya landed as he screamed in pain while his conspirator took aim. Before he could fire though, she erupted from her crouched position, knocking him upward with an uppercut. By now the first attacker had recovered and tried to punch her, but she spun out of the way on her heel. Upon completion of the turn her arm extended outwards with her own punch and knocked him down on the pavement.

There was a flash of robes as the woman behind the table leaped outwards and stormed the suddenly defenseless position. They were dead before they knew what killed them.

She vaulted gracefully over and in seconds, an attacker was cut to ribbons before he could scream with her knife. Having a clear shot at all of the assailants she emptied the entire clip of her weapon with precision fire.

It was over before Kira had reached them. As he neared he heard Aya whisper quietly, almost as if it was to herself:

"Seiken-Zuki"*

"Uh, Aya..."

She whirled around, with an embarrassed- no, surprised look on her face?

Kira backed away as he saw murder in her eyes.

"Did you hear?!" She hissed.

"What? Hear what?" Kira asked confused. It wasn't like he actually heard anything. He could have just been imagining it.

"If you tell anyone about this," Aya said in a dangerous tone, "I'll-"

"Hehey! Great job guys!" The officer patted them enthusiastically on the back, now that the fighting had died down, completely missing (or ignoring) the murderous look Aya was giving Kira.

"Kira!" Cagalli ran over to them but stopped just short of hugging him.

Before anything could happen, melodious humming could be heard behind him. It wasn't as nice as Lacus' voice but it was still soothing. Then there was a thunderclap.

The woman had shot one of Aya's attackers who were on their backs in the head. The second one quickly met the same fate. Her weapon still smoking, and her robe splashed with blood the woman approached the group. Kira eyed her warily as her knife still dripped freely with the life liquid.

"Andy~~" She said sweetly as she removed her shades, "What did I tell you about going into the city?"

"Andrew Waltfeld..." Cagalli's eyes widened with recognition as the man removed his fake beard, "The Desert Tiger!"

"What is it _this_ time Ai?" Andrew asked, throwing his arms up, "I didn't wear that bright yellow and red shirt you hate so much. Its still my favorite shirt by the way."

"Sorry about the mess guys," Andrew apologized as he tried to divert the conversation, "Tell you what, why don't come over to get your clothes washed hmm? My people will clear this up by then."

"No thank you, we're fine." Aya said grumpily, "A little dirt never killed anyone. We can clean it ourselves."

A shot rang out and Kira turned to see the survivors in a line, kneeling as a ZAFT soldier prepared to shoot the next one.

"Mr. Waltfeld!" Kira pleaded, "Please stop this! They're already beaten! They can't harm us anymore!"

Andrew looked unsure, but it was Aisha that acted.

"Criminal waste." Kira heard her mumble. She gestured to the soldiers who halted. He was relieved he wouldn't see any more senseless bloodshed.

"Don't they teach recruits to use their head anymore?"

Aisha stood beside the prisoners so that they were lined up in front of her to the side. Whipping out her still-warm weapon she fired once, the large caliber bullet traveling through all five prisoners' heads.

The ZAFT soldiers took an involuntary step back.

"See?" She said, "One bullet, five enemies. Think of the environment!"

"Oh dear!" Aisha exclaimed as she neared Aya, "I am _so_ sorry for that!"

Brain and bits of skull littered Aya's pants as she was relatively close by. She looked really angry.

"Now _that_ won't be easy to remove," Aisha chuckled, "We do have something to wash that off back home though."

When Aya gave Aisha her usual blank look, the black haired beauty smiled evilly.

"I insist."

* * *

Author's note:

* Jigen Haō-Ryū for everyone!

Well, this was getting way too long for my liking so it'll have to end here. Originally the Lacus section was not part of this, and there some parts that I cut out but I didn't think it would be this long.

Anyway, I ran into some problems with this as meeting Andrew Waltfeld would have been too close to the original. Guess who leapt in (and slashing) to save the day?

Aisha was a blank character and this made it very easy for me to add her to the event that would have been otherwise a cut and paste affair and so her role has been expanded to include soldier and bodyguard here.

As to how Aya can do _those moves_ the hint is there in Chapter 1. While some stuff here might be a bit exaggerated, especially towards the end, I decided it was still plausible in a Gundamverse.

Until next time.


End file.
